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CNN Sunday Morning

Drinks For Fourth of July

Aired June 30, 2002 - 09:16   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Flags will be flying this Fourth of July holiday about patriotism. Peaks in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.

A new CNN "USA Today" Gallup Poll finds 83 percent of Americans plan to fly the flag on the 4th. Nearly that many plan to attend a picnic or see family members. Now, just over 1/3 say they'll do something on Independence Day in remembrance of 9/11.

All right, well, we know how to keep our directors very happy here at CNN. It's Fourth of July, so, yes, we brought Mike a strawberry daiquiri. I promise you though, there's no alcohol, but we will tell you how to make drinks with or without alcohol for those July barbecues.

Once again, Maureen Petrosky chef, and wine and spirit connoisseur, joins us again. Hello.

MAUREEN PETROSKY, WINE EXPERT: How are you?

PHILLIPS: Good, I hope Mike knows what cameras to take after sipping on that. You didn't put any tequila or anything in there, did you?

PETROSKY: No, we thought that would be a good way to start with a nonalcoholic beverage...

PHILLIPS: There you go and it makes Mike happy. All right.

PETROSKY: And for your designated driver, so...

PHILLIPS: There you go.

PETROSKY: Doing red, white and blue, we did a strawberry daiquiri. And it's really easy to make daiquiris without alcohol for your guest that might not want to have soda or water. It's a fun thing for them to enjoy also.

Strawberries are great on the market right now. Throw a few in the blender with some ice and you have a beautiful cocktail there.

PHILLIPS: And the glasses, of course.

PETROSKY: Or mocktails, which is the... PHILLIPS: Mocktails, there you go, I like that. I've never heard that before. All right, what are these neat colored bottles here.

PETROSKY: This is the newest craze. There are flavored skewers on the market, anything from chocolate to orange. We brought vanilla today and we brought pineapple. So, a different way to spice up your Pina Colada is try one of the different rums that we brought today.

PHILLIPS: Vanilla and pineapple, yummy.

PETROSKY: Vanilla, pineapple -- there's banana, coconut. They all go really nicely and people love them. You know, it's not just vodka now, the rums are being flavored.

And then we move right along to our blue margarita. A traditional margarita would be made with Quantro which is orange flavored, and the Blue Curacao is also orange flavored. But we're going to shake one up for you really quick. You know, take away the mystique of the restaurant.

It's just a lime on this -- the rim there. Sea salt or kosher salt. You don't to want to see too much.

PHILLIPS: Just a little bit.

PETROSKY: You don't want a mouthful of salt.

PHILLIPS: Then you're really thirsty, and your drinking lots of water and, you know, forget the taste of the good margarita.

PETROSKY: And margarita mixes sometimes can be really sweet or really sour. And you want a nice balance, so basically we've used the Blue Caracao, which has got some sweetness in it, and some fresh lime juice. That's already in our shaker here. The fresh lime juice, and then tequila.

So it's two ounces of the tequila.

PHILLIPS: Only two?

PETROSKY: Only two. Two ounces of lime juice, so there is that balance there. You don't want to -- you don't really want to taste just alcohol in your drinks. You really want in your cocktail, to be mixed up.

PHILLIPS: Absolutely.

PETROSKY: And margaritas have taken on this personality of becoming this slushy drink. And really the best way to serve them is over ice. So we're going to put a little bit of ice on the rocks. Here we got some big rocks here this morning.

PHILLIPS: It's all right. I like that little shaker.

PETROSKY: And all different shakers on the market. This one is great because it has the strainer built right into it. So, you want to hold on because you have a lot of ice in there and that's a lot of weight.

PHILLIPS: Listen to that sound.

PETROSKY: That's it. Just a quick shake because you'll often see that bartenders really work their glasses. I think that is more to show their muscles than for the drink, because nobody really wants a watered down drink, so...

PHILLIPS: Remember Tom Cruise, "Cocktail?"

PETROSKY: Yes.

PHILLIPS: He knew how to shake that bottle, I'll tell you what.

PETROSKY: Yes he did.

PHILLIPS: Hey, that;s pretty.

PETROSKY: Beautiful and there you go.

PHILLIPS: Nice.

PETROSKY: And then you just garnish it with lime. You see we have all the different garnishes here and that really makes a difference at a party. It's really easy.

PHILLIPS: Now, does it make a difference, glasses versus plastic? I know it's probably a stupid question, but...

PETROSKY: No, it's a great question.

PHILLIPS: ... it's sort of like drinking beer out of a can versus out of a bottle.

PETROSKY: Well, the difference with cocktails versus, say, a wine tasting is that, you know, you don't have to be as formal with the glassware. We do have a Pina Colada in a conc (ph) glass and then we put it in a wine glass.

We have a margarita in a margarita glass, but if you got plastic, it's probably the safest if you're having an outdoor party by the pool, then you don't have to spend all this time washing your dishes, also.

So for a party, have fun. And if you want to bring our your best glassware, go right ahead. If not there is no pressure, especially with this kind of event, a Fourth of July picnic.

PHILLIPS: How do you know how to pick a good tequila? Give us your tips on tequila.

PETROSKY: OK, we use...

PHILLIPS: They can create quite a headache. PETROSKY: There are a lot of tequilas on the market and tequila is becoming more and more sophisticated. What people used to use as shooters, we now are sipping, especially when they're upwards of $100 a bottle.

PHILLIPS: Wow, $100 a bottle.

PETROSKY: Yes. Tequila and upscale tequila, they are all the rage. People really are loving them. They're not, like I said, just for shooting anymore, people are enjoying them.

PHILLIPS: Sure, we know all about that.

PETROSKY: Tequila is aged just like a scotch is aged. In an old bourbon barrels or old wine cast, there is age on it. Now a silver, which is what we used in a margarita, you don't want to use an expensive tequila in a margarita.

PHILLIPS: Why is that?

PETROSKY: Because you're taking away from what they've really built it up to be. It's like if you put, you know, a real expensive scotch in a mixer, you wouldn't want to do that. You wouldn't put ice cubes in a really expensive red wine, because you want to savor what it is and what its been made for.

But the silver tequilas have not been aged at all. So this is a great bottle. And like I said, prices are rising on tequila because of the shortage of the blue agave plant. And that's what tequila is from, not a cactus. Often people think...

PHILLIPS: They get confused.

PETROSKY: ... tequila is from the cactus, but its not. So, a silver tequila, not aged. We do want to go for 100 percent agave. You can see that on the label there.

PHILLIPS: OK, let's see, maybe we can get a tight shot of that. Where is our tight camera, Mike? Which one is it? Here we go, we're going to three. right there.

What were you pointing out?

PETROSKY: 100 percent agave.

PHILLIPS: All right, look for that on the bottle.

PETROSKY: There are products on the market now called mixos (ph) for tequila. It's basically watered down tequila. So you want to look for 100 percent agave. Now, because this is a mixing bottle it's a little lower priced, this is about $20. But then you go into the gold tequila, which sometimes has either a caramel color added or flavoring added.

Then there is the reposado which is aged in oak. And there is the aneho (ph) which is usually the most expensive. PHILLIPS: Is everybody taking notes?

PETROSKY: And aneho (ph) tequila, like I said, don't use those for your mixers because they're going to be more expensive. If you're into tasting and want to learn a little bit more about it, buy a silver, a gold and then an aneho (ph), taste them right next to each other, you'll see the difference.

PHILLIPS: Keep them all. Now really quickly -- wines, when they're outside -- when they get too warm, does that make a -- I know you're an expert on wines, too. And I always wonder about that. You always see all the wine bottles out at barbecues and they get really warm. Does that ruin the wine?

PETROSKY: I think that it changes the wine. If you leave it out over a period of time, of course, the wine is going to start to break down and not be good. You want to drink wine fairly cool, unless it's a red wine. Red wines can be kept out.

But like you said, in this heat, and the sun, keep your wine, keep your bar area inside or in a shaded area. It's going to make it last a little bit longer.

PHILLIPS: All right, any food tips real quickly to go with the margarita? The best thing...

PETROSKY: The best thing with a margarita. Well, I guess because tequila and anesco (ph) are both from Mexico, how about southwestern.

PHILLIPS: There we go, I like that.

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