cocktail review no. 1 - Gates of Hell

This is one of those cocktails whose name you espy and you just have to try. "Gates of Hell" fits right in with "Kamikaze," "Barrier Breaker" and "Swirling to the Beat of the Haggis Wings." At any rate I thought it would be a suitable cocktail to follow a bit of quick-fire spaghetti on a Monday night.

Here's the recipe:

• 1½ ounces tequila
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons lime juice
• 1 teaspoon cherry brandy
• crushed ice

In a shaker half-filled with ice cubes, combine the tequila, lemon juice, and lime juice. Shake well, then strain into an old-fashioned glass almost filled with crushed ice. Drizzle the cherry brandy over the top.

Don't ask me where I got cherry brandy. It's a long, painful story. The point is, I am bitterly disappointed in this drink. (I'm sipping it as I write this, as I will be for every drink I review on this blog.) Literally bitterly disappointed. I can only detect the tequila with my nose, the cherry brandy's purpose is unclear and the rest of the drink's sour as hell. It's possible that this is due to operator error, but I've been mixing my own drinks for over a year now and would like to think that I could avoid making such a gross error as to render any drink unpalatable that wasn't so to begin with. Saeongjima, as the Koreans say. I've still got 1,000 drinks left in my copy of The Bartender's Bible.