The Simple Highball

Boxes and Booze

Jun 17

The truth is rarely pure and never simple – Oscar Wilde

The best cocktails are often the simplest. Many of the classics even have “simple” mixed in – simple syrup (sugar water), at any rate. Searching for “simple cocktails” online will yield any number of these simple recipes. One of my all time favorite simple cocktails (and cocktail in general) is the classic daiquiri, which is merely the simple combination of rum, fresh lime juice and simple syrup. It remains one of the absolute best ways to enjoy rum. But to celebrate this Simple Lock required something a little less … simple.

Like the lock itself, the drink had to look uncomplicated, unfussy and elegantly pure. It had to look simple. Of course, it couldn’t actually be simple. On the contrary, it needed to be extremely complex! The premise for the drink, having thus been established, needed a template. One of the simplest cocktail templates in history is the highball, which is basically a base spirit plus soda water. Whiskey soda, rum and Coke, gin and tonic. You know the highball, whether you know it or not. For the Simple Highball, however, things get a little complicated.

The base spirit here is an aged tequila, an anejo, which by definition means it has rested in an oak barrel for one to three years, a process which imparts a warm amber or darker hue reminiscent of aged whiskey (for the same reason). However, this particular anejo has then been carefully filtered to remove all the color, rendering it crystal clear again! A trick of the senses ensues. Using this exceptional tequila in a cocktail is a bit reckless (most advocate sipping it neat). That alone with soda water would make for an elegantly deceptive highball. Yet there is still much more at play inside this glass, with bitterness and depth provided by Salers, a historical French aperitif produced in the Auvergne region, and subtle sweetness, which enhances all the flavors, from Chareau, an aloe based liquor produced in California. Topped off with tonic water, it’s simply sensational. Cheers!