love birds

1 1/2 oz The 86 Co. Cabeza Tequila
3/4 oz Passion Fruit Syrup
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
7 drop Grapefruit Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a Collins glass with 2 oz sparkling wine. Fill with crushed ice, add straws, and garnish with a grapefruit twist with a cut out of a bird.

For Halloween, I was rather excited to hear that New Orlean's Cane and Table bartenders were coming up to Boston to do a pop-up night at Brick and Mortar. The event was sponsored by the 86 Co. line of spirits and the chosen holiday theme was Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. To coincide with the film idea, the three Cane and Table bartenders concocted a 5 drink menu, and between Andrea and myself, we were able to sample all but one of them. For a start, Andrea asked bartender Sam Parrie for the Love Birds that reminded me on paper of a sparkling version of Hopping Throught the Frothy Waves. Sam actually remembered me from July when I sat at her bar last during Tales of the Cocktail.
The Love Birds was a reference to the type of birds that the main characters bought in the movie, and the drink began with grapefruit and passion fruit aromas. Next, lemon paired well with the carbonated wine on the sip, and the swallow balanced the tequila and wine flavors with a dry passion fruit and grapefruit swallow.