The Story Behind The Picante de la Casa
Evgeny Tolmachev has built a reputation as one of the industry’s most inventive bartenders. Born in Siberia, he went on to create one of the first large-scale, POV-style bartender education channels on YouTube, sharing his techniques with an audience of mixologists long before he became head bartender at Mace, the West Village cocktail bar known for its global approach to herbs and spices. So when Tequila Zarpado invited Tolmachev to craft a drink highlighting its REAPER tequila, he leaned into the spirit’s natural chile heat, drawing on the same curiosity and precision that have defined his career.
Zarpado Reaper is a spicy twist on Zarpado’s refined small-batch Blanco Tequila, infused with the bold expressions of Carolina Reaper and Habanero peppers. Zarpado REAPER is the only tequila in the world to use the Reaper pepper this way, hence the name. Famously the world’s hottest pepper, the Carolina Reaper is, of course, spicy but the heat is followed by fruity flavor characteristics. That profile adds to the blanco’s notes of Weber blue agave and pineapple in a way that subtly shifts cocktails toward a fuller, earthy-sweet heat.
Picante de la Casa embodies this expression with panache, using agave nectar to tease out more of the tequila’s bright fruit flavor while incorporating herbaceous and aromatic basil to soften the burn and complement the tropical fruit notes. Without any additional chile tinctures or muddled pepper, the Zarpado REAPER is the star of the show here, and lets its heat speak for itself.
This recipe page is sponsored by Tequila Zarpado.
