| MEET THE MIXOLOGIST |

Morgan Weber is a co-owner and beverage director of Agricole Hospitality , which includes the Miss Carousel cocktail bar and lounge in Houston , TX .

What was your first job in the beverage or hospitality industry ? I didn ’ t come to the food and beverage industry in the most traditional way . I had never actually worked in the industry at all , when I opened a cocktail bar called Anvil Bar & Refuge with Bobby Heugel and Kevin Floyd [ in 2009 ]. the predecessor of the modern day Ranchwater . They ’ re super simple — chilled sotol , fresh lime juice and Topo Chico , built over a generous amount of ice in a highball glass .

Would you share one of your favorite drink recipes ? For sure . Our Eight Row Flint Ranchwater has been a customer favorite for years .

What is your favorite spirit to work with at the moment ? Right now , I ’ m really leaning into and enjoying all of the new sotols coming into Texas from Northern Mexico , as well as the new ones popping up from distilleries around Texas . The flavor profiles are so complex and change drastically from producer to producer . We ’ ve had a lot of fun exploring how sotol plays as a base spirit in a wide range of classic cocktails .

Miss Carousel recently launched a new menu of ‘ 90s club cocktails ; how are the 2022 versions reimagined ? We thought it would be fun to take a hard look at some of those popular cocktails that we now consider to mostly illicit an eyeroll . What we found is that inherently they ’ re not bad ideas , they were just executed poorly — bad ingredients to start with , poured with too much sugar , and no balance . Our approach is actually pretty simple : don ’ t take ourselves too seriously , use amazing ingredients and fine-tune the details to get a balanced and interesting drink .

Why do you think there ’ s such interest in these sweet , boozy and kitchy cocktails today ? I think people are worn out on the pretension that has become the norm in the modern cocktail movement . I think these drinks were lovable to start with and just circled the drain when people tried to make them as cheap and fast as possible .

Sugar and acid getting too much of a heavy hand speaks to modern America ’ s disposition of loving sugar in insane quantities . Hopefully we are moving away from that , but we really try to strive for balance . Not too much of anything , and just enough of everything .

What has been the most popular cocktail at Miss Carousel ? From day one , it ’ s actually been our Gin & Tonic , which we treat in a slightly Spanish-inspired way . Our base is a great London Dry-style gin from The Marfa Spirit Co ., Suze , Falernum , clarified lime juice , elderflower tonic and basil — served in a big fishbowl-esque glass with a ton of big , beautiful clear ice . It ’ s complicated but still easy and refreshing .

What ’ s your own current go-to cocktail or beverage ? At home , I ’ ve been consistently making Sotol Rickeys . They ’ re pretty much

EIGHT ROW FLINT RANCHWATER

2 oz . Sotol 1 oz . Fresh lime ½ oz . Lime oleo saccharum * Topo Chico mineral water Grapefruit peels

In a tall Collins glass ( 12-14 oz .), combine sotol , lime juice and lime oleo . Fill to the top with ice and stir to chill . Fill to the top slowly with chilled Topo Chico . Garnish by expressing the oil into the glass of three fat grapefruit peels .

* For lime oleo saccharum : Remove the peels of a dozen limes and let soak in two cups of dry cane sugar for 24 hours . Empty into a medium sized pan and add one cup of water . Over medium heat stir to dissolve sugar . Before it boils , remove lime peels . Then let boil for 10 seconds . Once cool , oleo can be refrigerated for a month .

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