Spirits of Mexico 2012 Tequila Trail Part 2 of 2

Continuing on with the Tequila Trail... (see part 1 here)

Barra Barra Saloon was the first place we hit that provided mini water bottles and I was so thirsty by this point! After a little 'healthy' liquid, we visited the alcoholic kind.

Muerto tequila was offered here and this was one of my personal favorites. It was smooth all around for me. 

We also got to sample their mango sea bass ceviche, with nice tibits of meat and firm yet sweet mango bites.

At Casa de Reyes, we found El Jimador, which I've also seen in grocery stores before.

Casa de Reyes served Chile Colorado and Cilantro Rice. The meat was surprisingly tender and was a nice snack.

Our next stop was La Pinata. Here we found jalapeno poppers and more WATER! This was definitely needed as we had been walking around in the sun and had many sips of tequila...

We found Flashbang here. This was our favorite bottle design! Also, there's a lot of bite to this tequila.. 100 proof to be exact! I guess it balances out a little with a bottle that only containing 50 mL each!

This was Apocalypto. I'd have to say upon first sight, I could not figure out what this bottle was supposed to be. The ambassador explained that it was based off a Mayan god who was half human and half jaguar! Ahhh... now that makes more sense!

At Casa Guadalajra, we were offered Milagro. The bottles are beautiful with an agave plant decorating the interior of the bottle! 

We were also served street tacos at Casa Guadalajra. There was a choice of carne asada, pollo asada, and carnitas.

At El Fandango we were introduced to our first experience with FLAVORED tequilas! We tried all four flavors of El Capote Charro and preferred the mandarin overall.

El Fandango also had rolled tacos which were tasty and meaty.

Our final stop was Cosmopolitan Hotel. Here was served duck confit tacos, with recommended toppings of carmelized onion, grapefruit, and mango salsa. Dennis took one bite, noticed the heavy acidity, and proceeded to scoop out the grapefruit. Other than that, these were really tender and had an excellent flavor. We also cooled off with some lemonade before moving into the Cosmopolitan Hotel's bar.

In the Cosmopolitan Hotel's bar, the Cointreau Cocktail Challenge was underway. There were three different rounds, one per hour, and people were able to vote for their favorite. We hit it during the last round and since one of the tequilas were not able to participate, there were only three to sample. We had also sampled the Alamo Mexican Cafe cocktail while at the restaurant but the bartenders had a much better, less watered down version! Fred's Mexican Cafe had one called Angel's Spicy Margarita but it definitely had a bit too much bloody mary kind of spice of which I'm no fan of! The other drink they served in this round was Miguel's Cocina with their Cointreau Skinny. This one was a bit sour and weak for us.

We placed our vote and thanked the wonderful bartenders for making these for everyone to try!

All 12 cocktail recipes can be found in our recipes archive!

Wish we knew who won but after lots of food AND alcohol, we were in food coma land... Thanks for the great event!

Disclaimer: we were provided free tickets for this event but the opinions are strictly our own.