Sunday night I was contemplating having a drink of my current favorite potent potable: sotol, which is often compared to tequila. It’s originally from Mexico, and made from a plant called sotol. The one I have been drinking is from a Texas distiller, called Desert Door.
The bottle I currently have was aged in bourbon barrels and has a smokey taste. I was thinking about the fact that I have a lot of smokey teas, and a few with bourbon notes as well, and wondered if I could concoct a cocktail.
First I checked Desert Door’s website to see if they had any tea-based cocktail recipes, and they do have one that uses Earl Grey that they call a Texas Toddy. Earl Grey is popular, but I’ve been a little tired of it for a few years. It’s such a default for people when making any sort of recipe. I might play with recipe using a tea with citrus notes in the future, but that’s not what I wanted right then.
A few other cocktails on their site used coffee & hot chocolate mix, and I thought about malty or cocoa notes in tea, but then I remembered that I love chili in Mexican hot chocolate, and it hit me that I do have a spicy tea with chocolate from Friday Afternoon Tea called Knuckle Sandwich. And bonus, the one I currently have is decaf, since I was making this drink as a late evening nightcap. But you can use whichever version you’d like!
Now I just needed a name – well, with a tea called Knuckle Sandwich, what could I call this but Cowboy Punch?
To make your own Cowboy Punch:
1. Brew a mug of Knuckle Sandwich (or your own chili-and-chocolate flavored smokey black tea). I recommend brewing it strong since you’ll be adding 2 more liquid, but feel free to adjust to your taste
2. Sweeten your tea with honey – I used a local Texas honey!
3. Add 2 ounces of bourbon barrel aged Texas sotol
4. Mix and enjoy!
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