Your Beeting Heart

A Red-Letter Cocktail Day

Although color symbolism appears simple at first blush, the more you think about it, the trickier it gets. Take blue. A blue sky is a traditional cue for optimism and hope. Yet when someone is feeling down, we say they are blue. And that’s before we even consider why suggestive language is called blue. You could write a whole book on blue—indeed, William Gass did back in 1975, On Being Blue: A Philosophical Inquiry.

So I realize I’m going out on a limb if I make too much of this issue’s cocktail being red. But given it works for Valentine’s Day thanks to hearts and roses, it seemed a fitting concoction for winter. And even more importantly, it features a humble crop from the winter season—the lowly beet, which is even belittled by its Latin name, Beta vulgaris. Beets taste of the ground from which we pull them; that’s thanks to geosmin, a terpene with the formula C₁₂H₂₂O. I don’t really know what that means either. What I do know is the sweetness and earthiness in beets adds a basso profundo note to a cocktail.

A quick scan of the Your Beeting Heart Cocktail will reveal it’s a margarita in bloody beet clothing, with a bit of a kick thanks to the Ancho Reyes liqueur. It is also almost startingly red, to the point it would make a good Halloween cocktail, too, when fall rolls back around. Infusing the tequila with beets is a simple process (see recipe), it just takes some time, so be sure to start the work on this drink at least a day prior. You definitely want to use a blanco tequila, too, as the clear color to start leaves more room for the red to take over. Using a caramel-colored reposado would lead to a muddier-looking product. Blanco tequila, since it’s unaged, brings agave powerfully to a mixed drink, too.

Do note that silver tequila and blanco are often used interchangeably as terms, and if anything the former just means they can charge more for it (you should just sip it). For mixology purposes a $30 or so bottle should be good enough; just be sure it’s made from 100% blue agave. You don’t need additives. I used a bottle of JAJA, a smooth, straightforward expression of tequila.

The fresh citrus bill for the drink is crucial to provide the needed zip and lift, given all the earthiness the beets bring and, to be honest, amplify from the agave. Luckily, this time of year our trees and farmers markets are bursting with terrific tangerines of all sorts. That half ounce might not seem like it could make a difference, but it gives the drink a refreshing sweetness that keeps you sipping. Try it with only lime juice, and you’ll spot the difference immediately. (Not that the lime-only version would be unpotable.) Similarly, you could leave out the Ancho Reyes liqueur, but it provides a punch of warmth and a bit of smoke that helps clarify the drink—you don’t want your earthiness to go muddy.

You really don’t want to skip the saline solution. First, it saves you from having to try to rim your cocktail with salt, which can be a messy procedure and can bring too much pucker to any particular sip, depending upon how thickly crusted your coupe ends up. Sure, a well-done salt rim can be attractive in that frost-on-the-window way (especially for a winter cocktail), but adding saline to the drink itself ensures that saltiness infuses the drink consistently. As Eater put it, “Simply put, salt makes ingredients taste more like themselves.” Plus it’s easy to whip up the solution and then have it on hand.

Since you aren’t rimming with salt, and since the striking scarlet liquid in the glass should be the star, here’s a drink for which it’s worth skipping a garnish. I feel even better going garnishless after a recent visit to New York’s famed Dead Rabbit Pub that didn’t adorn any of their award-winning cocktails. Plus, for Valentine’s Day you can even say to you partner, “Who needs a distracting garnish when there’s all of your beauty for me to gaze at?” when you toast and win all sorts of points.