Drinking through Phoenix

From the title, one might think that I am an incredible lush and spend most of my time barely lucid. That couldn't  be farther from the truth. What really happens is that I thoroughly enjoy trying new drinks or tequila's but rarely have the same thing twice. Think Seldom Made but smaller portions, higher prices, and without all that crazy food. So why do we get a new post on my seldom used blog? Because we had an anniversary and most anniversaries mean going somewhere out of our tepid town and into an area full of culinary wonders! nay, LIQUORARY wonders! In honor, the name of the blog shall be theliquorarium.

We went out to Phoenix to partake in a little R&R&F(ood). Every stop in Phoenix requires us to eat at least one time at Z'Tejas. It's a Tex-Mex restaurant originating out of Austin, Texas which gives it one point just for being. The food is always delicious, and the margarita's are muy bueno. I always get a 6th Street Margarita. It's their signature house margarita and one of the best frozen margarita's at a food joint. small fact: the 'rita is named after the street the first Z'Tejas is located on. It's also their chili festival menu! The specialty drink was their Southwestern Margarita. It was special, in the sense that it had muddled cilantro(intriguing!) and raspberries. It was an incredibly sweet drink, and L ended up liking it. The cilantro wasn't really present making the drink good but mildly disappointing. =(

The next night we went to one of the local restaurants at the Fairmont Scottsdale. The hotel is nestled off the main street and inside a residential area. I thought that was a little weird, at first, but got used to it and would definitely recommend staying there if passing through Phoenix. We got a great rate through Hotels.com. The rooms are set up weird but very nice. The grounds are quite the sprawl, but it's all very well maintained. But back to the drinks. Right off the lobby, they have a Michael Mina restaurant called Bourbon Steak. Leah request a lemon drop - she's not much of a drinker and is limited to a Midori sour and the occasional lemon drop. I decided to step out a little bit and had a Dark & Stormy made by Kyle, one of our bartenders that night. I guess that it's more of a British drink - it consists of rum, ginger beer, and a lime. I've tried to enjoy basic drinks like this with rum and usually can't get past one sip, but this was a very good drink. It sounds easy so I could make it for parties(yah, like parties would ever happen at our house) as an alternative for tequila.

That takes us through a day and a half of our Phoenix trip and it's already an incredibly long post! I'll let this one marinate out there for a day or so while I write part two! I'm not sure if I'll get done in one more section because we're coming up to a large tequila section and a few drinks that are newish. Enjoy!

-D