Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/504216
may 2015 / the tasting panel / 71 Ocean Front by Rob Ferrara, Lure Fishbar, Miami, FL ◗ 1½ oz. Avión Silver ◗ ¼ oz. agave nectar ◗ ½ oz. fresh lime juice ◗ 1 oz. fresh pineapple juice ◗ 6 cilantro leaves ◗ 5 drops of Chesapeake Bay bitters ◗ Add all ingredients into a shaker, add ice and shake for 20 seconds. Strain into a Collins glass over fresh ice. Place two lime wheels down the side of the glass. Top with Dr. Browns Cel-Ray soda and finish with cracked black pepper. Jetsetter Old Fashioned by Jason Eisner, Gracias Madre, Los Angeles, CA ◗ 2 oz. Avión 44 Tequila ◗ 1 oz. homemade mesquite wood syrup ◗ 2 dashes homemade cardamom bitters (or Scrappy's) ◗ Expressed orange oil ◗ Mezcal brandy cherry on top PHOTO: DUSTIN DOWNING PHOTO: DUSTIN DOWNING PHOTO: VANESSA ROGERS On-Premise Take-Off Beverage directors appreciate Avión's range and quality, too. In Los Angeles, Jason Eisner at Gracias Madre stocks the brand's full lineup. "I'm lucky that I work for a company whose brand standards only allow me to work with impeccable, sustainable, artisanal spirits," he says. Despite its cost, Eisner uses Avión Reserva 44 to create the Jetsetter Old Fashioned, a composition of homemade mesquite syrup, cardamom bitters and a swath of orange pith. He advertises the drink as appealing to "the well-traveled adven- turous spirit." Few bar directors are nervy enough to decline carrying the most demanded tequila brand, but that's precisely what Rob Ferrara at Lure Fishbar in Miami has done. Instead, he prefers to encour- age patrons to try Avión if they haven't before. "I love seeing their face when they taste it and say 'Wow,' " adding that once it passes their lips, they are hooked. Ferrara uses Avión Silver in the Ocean Front, a savory-and-sweet marriage that he says "highlights the briny, citrus notes of the tequila [to] showcase the highlands style." While versatility of use behind the bar is one of tequila's greatest assets, Fry views the future of the spirit through a lime-tinged, salt-rimmed lens. "If the Margarita is the number- one cocktail in the country" he posits, "why can't it be number one in the world?" Jason Eisner stocks Avión's full lineup at Gracias Madre in Los Angeles.