Sharkbait’s Cocktail of the Week: With A Little Help From My Friends

Happy Springtime Friday! This week the weather has finally started to warm up and feel like proper spring. Of course there is snow in the forecast for next week, but I’m choosing to ignore that, and enjoy the fact that it touched 70 here today and will be in the high 60s tomorrow. With the weather starting to turn nicer, I went looking for a seasonally appropriate drink this week. I promptly found one in my Google feed called the El Lupolo. The article says this is “…a cocktail of winter looking hopefully toward spring”. That descriptor sold me on making it

1.5 oz. blanco tequila
0.5 oz. lime juice
0.5 oz. Campari
0.5 oz. simple syrup
Top with about 3 oz. IPA
Add all ingredients except for beer into a shaker tin and shake on ice for 6 to 8 seconds. Strain into a tall glass and top with about 3 oz. IPA. Garnish with a grapefruit peel.

Special shoutout to Armed and Hammered for sending me the IPA which is Pocahoptas by Center of the Universe Brewing. He generously sent myself, BFC, Horatio and Spam a variety of beers. The four of us are working on a group review post of the beers, so be on the lookout for that.

Speaking of reviews, How was the El Lupolo? Bitter, but overall pretty good.

The nose here features a slight tequila aroma, with some lime mixed in. Nothing too strong, not even the hoppiness of the IPA shines through.

The first sip is bitter forward, much more so than I thought it would be. The source however is not what I expected. Topping with the beer, I would have assumed IPA related bitterness would be more forward. However the Camapri bitter is the flavor that dominates right out of the gate. The bitter palate and the carbonation from the beer remind me of a kind of spritz, but with much more going on.

About midway through the sip I can somewhat pick up the tequila flavor It does not start out particularly strong, but it slowly intensifies in flavor towards the end. There is a bit of tequila aftertaste that lingers on the palate afterwards.

I’m lacking the grapefruit peel garnish and I really would say I’m missing it. The combination of flavors at work would be enhanced greatly with a little bit of citric acid the garnish provides. This is a case where the garnish really shouldn’t be omitted at all.

Overall, this is a good springtime cocktail. It has a good depth and body that pairs well with the season. Be it the false Spring we’re in right now, or the real one which is hopefully coming soon.

(Banner image found here)