Ah regional festivals. It's in these settings that you truly begin to uncover the traditions and history of a culture. There's mud throwing in Korea, baby jumping in Spain, or even hair freezing in the Yukon. All a little quirky, all a little fun to be a spectator at. One such Christmas related festival is the Night of the Radishes in Oaxaca, Mexico. The radish was introduced to the area by the Spanish missionaries and progressively grew in popularity. During the colonial period, vendors in the local Christmas markets decided to begin carving radishes into intricate sculptures and scenes in hopes of attracting more and more visitors. Finally in 1897, the mayor of Oaxaca declared the first radish carving competition and the Night of the Radishes had begun.
For this cocktail, we went in what seems a logical direction: radish infused tequila. That met with mixed results. First, the radish actually smooths the tequila and lends a nice peppery finish. However, there is a distinct, ahem, farty smell that is given off as the radishes infuse. Mmmmm, tasty. After kicking around several ideas (see the Cocktail Notes below), we decided to go with a Cadillac style margarita. The Grand Marnier and St. Germaine fill in the gaps and add a nice grapefruit quality to the pepper radish.
The Night of the Radishes Cocktail
- 2 parts – radish-infused tequila (we used el Jimador)
- 1 part – Grand Marnier
- 1 part – St. Germain
- 1/2 part – Fresh Lime Juice
For the infusion: coarsely chop a small bunch of radishes (6-8) and place in 2 cups of tequila. Wait 2 days. Un-cap the jar. Release the Farts of Doom and Hellfire into the room (be careful not the drop the jar). Wait another day. Farts are less potent. Infusion starts to taste like radishes.
For the drink: combine ingredients into shaker. Shake over ice. Pour into cocktail glass. Garnish with thin wheel of lime.
Cocktail Notes
- In a weird "first crack" at this cocktail, we tried our tequila radish infusion and Bols Melon. It brings out the absolute worst in each of the two.
- We then tried it with Aperol, thinking that the bitter in the Aperol might be a nice boost to the radish with a hint of orange. In reality, no orange ..just lots of bitter. In a rando thought, Kate says "Let's add chocolate .. like a mole". Kate may have done too much tasting at this point. We tried Aztec Chocolate Bitters and Gifards Chocolate Syrup. This was not a good idea.
- Finally .. we brought out the big guns .. Grand Marnier. If anything will smooth this bad boy out and tame those radishes, it's Grand Marnier. Like in a Cadillac margarita.
