Introducing a new CRL IRL segment: The Recap. Each week, we’ll bring you inside an event in the 518, dishing on all the details of our experience. For our first Recap, we’re taking you to Tipsy Taco Cantina’s first-ever cocktail making class.
🎶 Give me one margarita… 🎶
I’m three margaritas in, swiping through a stranger’s Instagram carousel, looking through her wedding photos from last year…exactly where I want to be. Just a few hours earlier, I had been telling my partner that my goal this summer is to befriend more people in the Capital Region. (I moved to Albany from Downstate in June.) So on Saturday afternoon, I locked in and headed for Tipsy Taco Cantina in Latham for the restaurant’s first-ever cocktail-making workshop, presented by Olmeca Altos Tequila.
First Drink: Strawberry Margarita 🍓
Whenever I go to a bar, I order a strawberry marg. I’m a tequila girl through and through, and I adore drinks that complement my pink fashion choices. More than a dozen attendees sat with me at the bar, and more bar tables were packed behind me.
It can be intimidating to attend a social event by yourself. Before sipping my nerves away, I played out multiple worst-case scenarios in my head. I drop a full bottle of tequila. My face swells up with an allergic reaction (I am only allergic to penicillin). Everybody in the room makes fun of a wardrobe malfunction and I find out through the CRL Instagram account. I get fired for my infamous viral moment. I’ve been told I have an active imagination.
All my fears vanished once I stepped inside the bar. I was greeted by a warm smile from one of the bartenders hosting the workshop. Everyone in the room was either talking, laughing, or both. I took an empty seat by the end of the bar, sitting next to two sisters who were enjoying the afternoon with their mother. Immediately, I was invited into their conversation and stopped worrying about nightmare scenarios.
Alyssa McKenna, a representative for Olmeca Altos Tequila, gave us a ‘Tequila 101’ crash course. I used to bartend at Legoland New York Resort—I have a long resume of odd jobs (e.g. hotel night auditor)—so I knew the bartending basics, but the educational component was still useful. The real excitement, though, began with our first cocktail creation: A classic strawberry margarita.
“Oh my God, this is gas.” I said, turning to Valentina, the older sister of the sibling duo. Her cocked head told me I needed to find a synonym. “Like good—this margarita recipe is really good.” It was in that moment where I was reminded that most of the slang I grew up with didn’t travel upstate—I’ll need to haul it up here myself. Despite being the same age, Valentina and my careers, interests, and linguistic choices couldn’t have been more different, but we had a mutual curiosity to learn more about one another.
Floral Arrangement Interlude
Second Drink: Blackberry Jalapeño Margarita 🌶️
One drink in with a bouquet in my bag, I was feeling amazing. Our next recipe was for a drink that I’d never had before, but looked absolutely delicious. The blackberry jalapeño margarita drove everyone back into their seats to learn how to kick up the heat with the special spicy ingredient.
“There’s a lot to do in this region,” Valentina said as we both picked jalapeño slices from our shared plate. “I’ve lived here all my life.” As we made our second drink, I learned about Saratoga’s Second Sunday Market— a vintage and makers market that’s hosted in Congress Park on the second Sunday of each month—plus the Troy Waterfront Farmer’s Market, and tons of other bars I need to check out.
The list in my Notes app grew longer; my summer itinerary is now filled up with various dates, places, and details.
Have a suggestion on where I should head to next?
Final Drink: Paloma 🍊
I should note that my typical drink limit is two cocktails. However, knowing that my partner lovingly volunteered as my DD, I dove straight into our third cocktail recipe.
The instructor switched things up by using a reposado, an aged tequila known for its amber color. The last time I had a paloma, I was at a tiki bar in Midtown Manhattan, and my experience involved a make-shift vomit bag decked out with the I ❤️ NY logo… Not my proudest moment. But at the time, I didn’t know the dangers of an open bar. Now I do.
I can confidently say that this paloma experience was far better than the last one. At this point of the workshop, everyone giggled with each spill and confessed to messing up the relatively straight-forward recipe (myself included). Did my seat neighbor and I accidentally add two servings of agave syrup into our cups? Maybe. Our last drinks weren’t perfect, but the goal of the workshop wasn’t to turn us into next best Latham bartenders. It was to have fun in a creative way and meet new people in the area.
So, who cares if my drink turned out a bit sweeter than the recipe called for? My time at my first 518 social function did, too.
—Jolena
Favorite Recipe: Blackberry Jalapeño Margarita
Ingredients
2 oz. Olmeca Altos Plata
3/4 oz. fresh lime juice
1/2 oz. blackberry syrup
2-3 fresh jalapeño slices (muddled)
Tajin
1/4 oz. agave syrup (optional)
fresh blackberries (optional)
Instructions
Muddle the jalapeño slices, then add remaining ingredients in shaker.
Shake with ice and double strain over fresh ice into a Tajin-rimmed rocks glass.
Garnish with a blackberry and jalapeño slice. Enjoy!