SiscoVanilla Makes a Ted Williams August 1, 2018

Part Two of the cocktails that I took with me to the Hangover Takeover podcast last Thursday was a something that I dubbed The Ted Williams. For this post, I share the floor with my alter-egos BaseballSisco and HistorySisco for the historical dimension concerning Ted Williams. Don't know who Ted Williams is? Simply put, Williams is one of the best players to ever play the game of Baseball. Allow me to reintroduce him to you all.

Ted Williams was born Theodore Samuel Williams on August 30, 1918 in San Diego, CA. Williams played his entire Baseball career with the Boston Red Sox and served in both World War II and the Korean War as a fighter pilot. Williams is the last player to his for over .400 for the season batting .406 for the 1941 season. While Williams was one of the best ballplayers to ever lace up cleats, he was also one of the most confident (some may say arrogant) and mercurial. Williams was quoted as saying the following about himself:  “If there was ever a man born to be a hitter it was me.”

Williams could be sweet one minute and bitter the next. Consider this. In his last at-bat on September 28, 1960 Williams homers for his 521st career dinger. He refuses to come out for a curtain call afterwards, just taking the field before being replaced. The fans serenade him with a standing ovation as Williams disappeared into the dugout, never once acknowledging the fans, bringing his playing career to a close. He would mellow out somewhat in his later years and finally gave the fans (and some might even say the game of baseball) some love during the 1999 All-Star Game that was hosted in Boston's Fenway Park. And I say that HE gave love since the fans, especially in Boston, always loved The Splendid Splinter. But history could have been different.

As stated above, Williams was born in San Diego to a father Samuel Stuart Williams who had a Welsh/Irish background and a mother May Venzor who was Mexican American. Consider the times that he played in. Williams debuted in 1939, in one of the most segregated cities in the North. Williams debuted 8 years before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and the Boston Red Sox were the last team to integrate when Elijah Jerry "Pumpsie" Green became the first black ballplayer on the Red Sox...on July 21, 1959. 12 years after Jackie Robinson took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers. So its no surprise that Williams didn't shed light on his Mexican side given the racial climate of the times. That finally leads us to the cocktail.

In honor of Williams' diverse heritage, I decided on making a mule of a drink combining Irish Whiskey and Mezcal. For the whiskey portion, I used Paddy's Irish Whiskey. I have previously profiled Paddy's on this blog in the following post from April 3, 2014 entitled Two Irish Whiskies on a Tuesday Night. On the Mezcal side I used the Montelobos Mezcal. Mezcal is similar to Tequila in that the spirits is distilled from Agave plants. Unlike Tequila that is made exclusively with Blue Agave, Mezcal is made with Espadín agave and the pinas are smoked in an underground pit giving the Mezcal its almost scotch-like smokiness. To these two spirits I added lime juice, simple syrup, ginger beer and Angostura bitters. Like Williams himself, you had Irish, Mexican, tart, sweet, spicy and bitter all rolled up into one amazing cocktail.

Here is the recipe I used:

Ted Williams
1.5oz Paddy's Irish Whiskey
1oz Montelobos Mezcal
0.5oz Lime Juice
0.25oz Simple Syrup
Ginger beer to top
5 dashes of Angostura Bitters

Build ingredients in copper mule cup with ice, stir slightly after adding bitters and garnish with lime if desired.

To paraphrase JuJu from the Hangover Takeover, this cocktail is a sipper. Both her and Gypsy agreed that it would pair well with ribs, brisket, pulled pork and other bbq selections. I found it to be delicious. I love the smokiness that the Mezcal brings to the forefront with the spiciness and sweetness on the back end. Paddy is just chilling out with all the ingredients. Its definitely a sipper folks. You don't want to slurp too many of these down too fast. It will definitely catch up to you. We had a great time.

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One of the suggestions on the Hangover Takeover was to make a series of Baseball Player related cocktails. Sounds good to me. Anything you want to see ? Drop me a line and let me know.

Until Then Keep Drinking,
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