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The Trace of Texas Cocktail has been invented, using Texas-sourced ingredients (recipe here)

Hornius Emeritus

By Hornius Emeritus
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Hornius Emeritus

Hornius Emeritus 12487

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Remember when I asked y'all to help me create a Texas-sourced cocktail and some of y'all mentioned using sotol as a base?

My friend Michael Parker has invented the Trace of Texas cocktail, using Texas-sourced ingredients. I know that cucumber in a cocktail sounds weird but we have served them to about 30 different people and every single person loved it. It is now available at Opal Divine's in Austin but it will soon be available at bars around the state, the goal being that, in 10 years, you'll be able to walk into a bar in Beaumont, order a Trace of Texas, and the bartender will know how to make it. The recipes are below.  I decided to go with Desert Door sotol because the sotol plant is native to Texas, because it is wild harvested from a ranch near Dryden (i.e. it's not farmed) and because they're committed to sustainability.  By the way, the Desert Door distillery, which is in Driftwood near the Salt Lick, is very, very nice.  Like many new ventures Desert Door had some issues with quality control at the very beginning but those have been ironed out. 


Backstory:

I was at my favorite bar in Austin, Opal Divine's, on a typically warm Austin day.   Michael Parker, the owner of Opals, has been my bartender for about 30 years. I told Michael that I'd like something refreshing but that I was feeling "margarita-ed out."  I added that, being that I am Traces of Texas, it would be great if the cocktail was made with Texas-sourced ingredients. Michael thought for a few minutes and came up with this, which we call the Trace of Texas and it is delicious.  In all honesty, I'm not even that big of a cucumber fan and but I love this cocktail. It's drinkable, refreshing, and it doesn't feel like it's weighing me down.   While I was drinking the first-ever Trace of Texas cocktail,  Michael said "I know that you are frequently down on the border and that your friends down there can be a bit rowdier than folks here in Austin. I wonder what would happen if we spiced it up a little bit."   That's when Michael created what we call the "Trace of Texas/Border Style," which takes the basic Trace of Texas cocktail, adds a bit of jalapeno and is rimmed with Tajin seasoning, which can be purchased pretty much anywhere, including HEB and online.  All I can say is that Michael is a magician, and I think that if you make yourself a Trace of Texas, you'll agree.


There are two versions of the Trace of Texas cocktail, regular and border style. Both are easy to make.

 

Trace of Texas

1.5 oz Desert Door Original Texas Sotol

.5 oz Paula’s Texas Grapefruit Liqueur

1 oz Fresh Pressed Texas Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice

1 teaspoon (1/6 oz) Wholesome Sweeteners Raw Agave Nectar

1 Slice cucumber

 

 

In a mixing glass muddle the cucumber slice with grapefruit juice and agave nectar

Add Desert Door Original Texas Sotol, Paula’s Texas Grapefruit Liqueur and ice, cap and shake vigorously.

Strain into an old-fashioned glass over new ice.

Garnish with a grapefruit or orange slice cut into a star shape!

 

 

Trace of Texas (Border Style)

1.5 oz Desert Door Original Texas Sotol

.5 oz Paula’s Texas Grapefruit Liqueur

1 oz Fresh Pressed Texas Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice

1 teaspoon (1/6 oz) Wholesome Sweeteners Raw Agave Nectar

1 Slice cucumber

1 Slice jalapeño, de-seeded

Tajin seasoning for rimming the glass

2 Dashes Bad Dog Barcraft Fire and Damnation Bitters (optional)

 

In a mixing glass muddle the cucumber slice and jalapeño with grapefruit juice and agave nectar

Add Desert Door Original Texas Sotol, Paula’s Texas Grapefruit Liqueur and ice, cap and shake vigorously.

Strain into an old-fashioned glass rimmed with Tajin seasoning over new ice and top with two dashes of Bar Dog Barcraft Fire and Damnation orange bitters, if desired.

Garnish with a grapefruit or orange slice cut into a star shape!

 

Edited by Hornius Emeritus
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Hornius Emeritus

Hornius Emeritus 12487

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2 hours ago, Doug E. Fresh said:

Look, I wish you and your friend well with this. And I haven’t tried it so can’t comment on it. But it pretty much sounds like a Sotol Paloma to me.


Other than the fact that a sotol paloma has lime juice and this cocktail doesn't  and a sotol paloma doesn't have cucumber, Paula's Grapefruit liqueur, jalapenos or Tajin seasoning, it's exactly the same.   In fact, they  serve sotol palomas at Desert Door but aren't legally allowed to sell these because of the liqueur.

So, yeah, both a Sotol paloma and a Trace of Texas contain sotol and agave nectar but that's where the similarity ends. 

Finally, when you say "you and your friend do well with this"  I should point out that I have no vested interest, financially or otherwise, in this cocktail.  I just thought it was a fun thing to try to make a cocktail with Texas-sourced ingredients.





 

 



 

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Hornius Emeritus

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1 hour ago, cafe society said:

I'm curious as to what it is about Paula's grapefruit liqueur that makes it illegal to sell this cocktail?


It is too high in alcohol.  If you are a distillery, there are all kinds of licenses/regulations that you have to go through. TABC allows Desert Door to sell/give away  spirits, the ones that they distill. But to use other spirits they have to have the same licenses (I think they are the same) that other alcohol-selling places have. In Desert Door's case, they are only allowed to sell/give away their sotol and alcohol up to beer/wine.  Paula's is too high in alcohol to be classified as such. I am not sure if Desert Door isn't ALLOWED to use higher alcohol products or if it simply is a matter of them  not having bought a license to do so, because why would a sotol distillery want to sell whiskey-based or vodka-based drinks.  So they can make Palomas using their sotol and they have a drink that they make out there that uses sparking wine but that's as far as they can go.  Mind you, some of this is supposition on my part. I didn't get into a big discussion about it. All I know is that they told me they can't use Paula's because it's too high in alcohol and that they're only allowed to go up to beer/wine.  I'm not sure what all the legalities/license issues are.

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cafe society

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18 minutes ago, Hornius Emeritus said:


It is too high in alcohol.  If you are a distillery, there are all kinds of licenses/regulations that you have to go through. TABC allows Desert Door to sell/give away  spirits, the ones that they distill. But to use other spirits they have to have the same licenses (I think they are the same) that other alcohol-selling places have. In Desert Door's case, they are only allowed to sell/give away their sotol and alcohol up to beer/wine.  Paula's is too high in alcohol to be classified as such. I am not sure if Desert Door isn't ALLOWED to use higher alcohol products or if it simply is a matter of them  not having bought a license to do so, because why would a sotol distillery want to sell whiskey-based or vodka-based drinks.  So they can make Palomas using their sotol and they have a drink that they make out there that uses sparking wine but that's as far as they can go.  Mind you, some of this is supposition on my part. I didn't get into a big discussion about it. All I know is that they told me they can't use Paula's because it's too high in alcohol and that they're only allowed to go up to beer/wine.  I'm not sure what all the legalities/license issues are.

Thanks.  I confused the Opal Divine's and the distillery.

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GreenspointTexas

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11 hours ago, RollLeft said:

Texas Old Fashioned

  • 1/2 teaspoon Imperial sugar from Sugarland, Tx

  • 3 dashes Frio Farm bitters

  • 1 teaspoon water

  • 2 ounces Ben Milam bourbon

  • Garnish: South TX orange peel

  • Candied TX Pecan

Ben milams triple cask bourbon and single barrel bourbons arent even from Texas tho

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Hornius Emeritus

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2 hours ago, RollLeft said:

Named after a Texan and distilled here but if not enough pick one of the 6+ that are.


There are several points I'd like to make: 

1) According to their website,  Ben Milam's flagship bourbon "is made from 70% Texas corn, 22% Pacific Northwest malted rye from Oregon and Washington, 8% Wyoming barley, and our proprietary yeast recipe from Kentucky and Texas. Each bottle of Milam & Greene Triple Cask is a batch of three hand selected straight bourbon whiskies: 2-year-old premium Texas bourbon for a pop of spice married with 3 to 4-year-old Tennessee whiskey for vanillas and fruits, and 10 to 11-year-old Tennessee whiskey for structure and tannins"  and are aged and bottled in Texas.

2) I love whiskey, single malt (see my photo on the Christmas dinner thread) scotch etc .... but those, to me, those are not really Texas spirits because they are most famous for coming from other places like Tennessee, Scotland etc...  Sotol, however, is a native of the desert southwest. It's from here. It won't grow in Tennessee or Scotland.

3) It's very hard to know, with all of these new whiskies/vodkas etc... being marketed as Texas products, where they are actually from or where the ingredients come from.  All of Desert Door's sotol comes from one Texas ranch.  And it's wild harvested and sustainable, both of which appealed to me.

4) I wanted something pretty unique. An  Old Fashioned made from Texas-based ingredients, while spectacular, is still an Old Fashioned.

5) I wanted something drinkable, thirst-quenching etc... in the hot summer, in the daytime.  Obviously one can drink whiskey or bourbon etc... in the summer but to me darker spirits in general are more cool weather/winter/evening spirits. 

6) I didn't invent the cocktail and had no input in its creation. That's all Michael Parker from Opal's.

7) Another consideration is that it be affordable.  So many Texas whiskies are so expensive these days.  Because of that, I was thinking beforehand that Tito's vodka would be a good choice for a base because it's affordable and nowadays can be found all over the country. But Michael pointed out that vodka isn't really associated with Texas and that there's some debate as to how Texas Tito's actually is.

8)Regarding the seasoning for the rim: Tajin is not a Texas product. It comes from Mexico.  And there are products that are very similar that are actually made  in  Texas.  But one consideration was that the ingredients be somewhat widely available, at least here in Texas.  And Tajin IS widely available and it is made in Mexico, which borders Texas. 

9) The Trace of Texas cocktail as created by Michael Parker is delicious. I mean really, really good. Like margaritas and mojitos, it's great in our hot Texas weather. 

10) As an aside,  Imperial sugar is no longer refined in Sugar Land and is actually owned by a Dutch multi-national conglomerate.
 

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Hermanator

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How does sotol taste in comparison to tequila? I like palomas a lot and at times skip the lime juice for fresh grapefruit juice so this sounds similar in flavor but different enough as this doesn't have grapefruit jaritos. 

In that recipe I'd skip the jalapeño as I don't care for spicy cocktails but I'd definitely use the tajin as I use it for my palomas already. 

As far as everything being from Texas aren't the agaves in the nectar grown in Mexico? If you wanted to sub to full Texan maybe a locally sourced Texas honey instead? I make a frozen paloma version that uses locally produced honey as the sweetener

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Da Fino

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Holy shit!  Thank you so much. What do you think? Really, the Border Style is the way to go. The Jalepeno really adds a great bite and the Tajin seasoning puts it over the top in my opinion.

I drank a bunch of them over the last couple of days. Good stuff. I’ll try the tricked up version next weekend.
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irishtexan

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2 hours ago, next2naus said:

I would never order any beverage called "traces of Texas" or any derivation. The name is both lame and pretentious, a rare combo. Best of Luck

1) Traces of Texas is Hornius Emeritus' very VERY excellent Insta handle.

2) There's nothing pretentious about it at all. It's just awesome photos/stories of the things that make Texas the great state that it is.

3) Even though it's not at all pretentious, we're talking about cocktails culture, which is inherently pretentious, so even if it were, it'd fit right in. 

4) You know what is lame and pretentious? Offering an unsolicited and unnecessarily aggro opinion on a subject/drink on which you're completely uninformed.

5) Maybe go ahead and get fucked? 

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next2naus

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So you guys are gonna roll up to the bar, ask for a cocktail menu, then order a Traces of Texas? 

 

maybe you will, maybe others will. Many won't. I know what I like to drink and only look at a menu if I'm bored or the drink order is slow coming. Sorry I'm not a cheer leader for this, I think the name is lame. it's subjective. 

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Your Mom

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4 hours ago, next2naus said:

So you guys are gonna roll up to the bar, ask for a cocktail menu, then order a Traces of Texas? 

No, I went to that bar specifically to order one.  I figured I'd give it a shot since he's been entertaining nearly 50,000 of us over the years with all that Texas history, photos, and stories.  In a social media world full of mostly shit, his stuff kicks ass.

And your move is to come in with,  "What I drink is cooler than what you drink!" 

What, are we in high school here?  Get fucked.

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Patricio Swayze

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So you guys are gonna roll up to the bar, ask for a cocktail menu, then order a Traces of Texas? 
 
maybe you will, maybe others will. Many won't. I know what I like to drink and only look at a menu if I'm bored or the drink order is slow coming. Sorry I'm not a cheer leader for this, I think the name is lame. it's subjective. 

Ok. Probably could have just sat this one out. I know we are a bunch of assholes on this site, but sometimes it’s just not necessary. Especially towards someone that has done so much for Texas history.
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Hornius Emeritus

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9 hours ago, next2naus said:

So you guys are gonna roll up to the bar, ask for a cocktail menu, then order a Traces of Texas? 

 

maybe you will, maybe others will. Many won't. I know what I like to drink and only look at a menu if I'm bored or the drink order is slow coming. Sorry I'm not a cheer leader for this, I think the name is lame. it's subjective. 


Well ... damn. I'm sorry that you don't like the name but there's about 10 million words worth of Texas history sweat equity and close to a million social media followers built into it. Do you have a better name for a cocktail whose ingredients all come from Texas?



 

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next2naus

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On 3/23/2022 at 1:24 PM, irishtexan said:

1) Traces of Texas is Hornius Emeritus' very VERY excellent Insta handle.

2) There's nothing pretentious about it at all. It's just awesome photos/stories of the things that make Texas the great state that it is.

3) Even though it's not at all pretentious, we're talking about cocktails culture, which is inherently pretentious, so even if it were, it'd fit right in. 

4) You know what is lame and pretentious? Offering an unsolicited and unnecessarily aggro opinion on a subject/drink on which you're completely uninformed.

5) Maybe go ahead and get fucked? 

it doesn't mean I have to like the name for a drink or think it's a great name for a drink, he's a great photographer and what he's doing here is fun and fine and all but it's unlikely to light the mixology world on fire. Hope it does if that's his goal. 

I like how the internet and or Surly is the home for offering an unsolicited and unnecessarily aggro opinion until someone gets their feelings hurt. 

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next2naus

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25 minutes ago, Hornius Emeritus said:


Well ... damn. I'm sorry that you don't like the name but there's about 10 million words worth of Texas history sweat equity and close to a million social media followers built into it. Do you have a better name for a cocktail whose ingredients all come from Texas?



 

hope it works out, best of luck. The world itself is very subjective and finicky and the spirits/mixology/hospitality might be that to the umptenth. It's not for me, best of luck 

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irishtexan

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3 hours ago, next2naus said:

it doesn't mean I have to like the name for a drink or think it's a great name for a drink, he's a great photographer and what he's doing here is fun and fine and all but it's unlikely to light the mixology world on fire. Hope it does if that's his goal. 

I like how the internet and or Surly is the home for offering an unsolicited and unnecessarily aggro opinion until someone gets their feelings hurt. 

Dude, just shut the fuck up before this turns into a fatwa. You’re a fucking idiot. This is a dumb hill to die on. 

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