Bar Lead Melissa Meier with Barrel Select Mint Paloma.

Avvio Ristorante
90 Hillside Road
Cranston, RI

Guests of Newport Restaurant Group’s Avvio will find an authentic Italian menu packed with classics made from fresh ingredients. In addition to an assortment of beer and fine wine selections by the bottle or glass, Avvio offers Italian cocktails and seasonal, creatively mixed libations. The venue’s Barrel Select Mint Paloma features Patrón Barrel Select Añejo Tequila, which Bar Lead Melissa Meier and General Manager Raul Esteves handpicked during a recent tour and visit to the Patrón facility and agave fields in Jalisco, Mexico. “After tasting and deliberating over several tequilas, we chose this [tequila] that has been aged in American and French oak for 14 months,” Meier said. “It has aromas of cooked agave, citrus and lemon tea. The tequila tastes of cooked agave, light wood and has a delicate sweet flavor.”

Bar Lead: Melissa Meier

Cocktail: Barrel Select Mint Paloma

Ingredients:
» 1 ½oz Patrón Barrel Select Añejo Tequila
» ½ oz Lime juice
» ¼ oz Simple syrup
» 1 ½ oz Fresh-pressed pink grapefruit
» 4-5 Fresh mint leaves
» Soda water
» Garnish: salt rim and mint sprig

Method: Muddle the fresh mint in a mixing glass, add ice then tequila, lime, simple syrup and grapefruit. Speed shake and pour into a Berlin glass with a salted rim, top with soda water and garnish with fresh mint sprig.

“We chose this drink because the tequila has citrus notes and would go hand in hand with the freshly pressed pink grapefruit, delicate mint and, of course, lime. Finishing it with a salted rim and refreshing soda water makes for a delicious spring cocktail,” Meier said.