It’s officially November but not officially cold weather time yet here in Texas. I’ve been going through our bar cabinet trying to identify which spirits we should finish before Old Man Winter arrives. Any excuse to make some space for new boozy friends! We have a healthy amount of tequila to work through, so I thought I’d come up with a new “snuggly” tequila drink to help transition us into fall. I love a good El Diablo, so I thought I would try to work off that. The result? My La Manta cocktail, “the blanket” instead of “the Devil” and a switcheroo of amaro instead of creme de cassis… and an absent citrus and the addition of simple but who’s counting?!

Over a year ago, I picked up my bottle of Averna after reading all about the amaro trend online. Despite my love for sipping drinks, I haven’t made much progress in my Averna. Of course, this is likely equally to do with its strong medicinal flavor and the fact that I haven’t spent much time looking into how to mix with it. But that’s all about to change with the new La Manta cocktail, a drink for snuggling and reminiscing.

This guy packs all the antiseptic, bitter qualities of amaro metered with the bright spice of ginger. Don’t be fooled by the potent nature of the drink and go for an old fashioned glass. After all, you’re going to want a tall glass as this guy just gets smoother and more delicious the more the ice, spirits, and ginger beer have time to mingle.

In other news, my dear friend Chelsea keyed me into a terrific Kickstarter that just got going. I’m happy to be backer #152 for the home cocktail journal Spirit, Mixer, Glass & Garnish. I’ve seen a few so-called home bartending solutions like this, but they’re always a bit over-designed or too cutesy. The simplicity and thoughtfulness, not to mention the clearly high-quality materials and design, of this journal grabbed me immediately. With the project achieving 50% backing in only 34 hours, I’m very optimistic that I’ll be recording new cocktail recipes in one of these beauties before the year is out. Check out their campaign below and back one for yourself!