A devil of a drink, says one reviewer.
The poblano pepper is an important ingredient in a number of Mexican dishes, but back in the 1920s it was — in its dried form — the main ingredient in a liqueur.
Last year, a firm did some research on that drink and found a recipe that had been used by a family in Puebla. Today, it can be found in Mexico and the United States as Ancho Reyes, billed as a liqueur for the “prolific of spirit” and “bold of heart.”
It is also billed not only as the most original Mexican liqueur but has the distinction of being the only chile liqueur in the world. Roberto Hidalgo, managing director of Licorera Ancho Reyes, says there’s a lot of history behind the brand.
The late 1920s in Mexico were a different sort of Roaring 20s, where artists, intellectuals and bohemians formed an avant-garde movement that gathered in cantinas and enjoyed unique “menjurjes,” or homemade concoctions made from a blend of local ingredients and spirits.
One of those was the Reyes family’s poblano chile liqueur, a sugar cane distillate in which dried poblano peppers have been steeped for six months.
The dried poblanos, known as chile ancho, are more than 90% of the formula for the liqueur, which employs neutral sugar cane spirit from Veracruz and a few other hot chiles for more depth, according to its makers.
So how is it? “This is one devil of a drink,” wrote a MarketWatch writer earlier this month. The heat greets you “like an anxious birthday boy waving a baseball bat at a piñata.”
Geoff Kleinman of Drink Spirits was impressed, and appreciative, that Ancho Reyes “actually tastes like peppers,” and is best when mixed, especially with tequila. It also transforms a classic drink into something completely different, he said, even a typical Mexican hot chocolate.
Licorera Ancho Reyes describes its product as artisanal: each pepper is hand-selected and cut with scissors before going into the cane spirit.
Reports indicate that the product has been well received in the United States; next year it will be introduced in Canada and Europe. Hidalgo sees a great opportunity for Ancho Reyes in the U.S. where there is a growing market for spicy foods. In Mexico, meanwhile, the drink has seen triple-digit growth, he said.
Hidalgo attributes its popularity to being a new brand of a new artisanal product with history behind it.
If you should feel the need to celebrate your inner “radical, romantic or independent,” this smoky and heated concoction might just do the trick.
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