Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

The Commons Bar's Skinny Scorpion

Skinny Scorpion
Skinny Scorpion
Place

Commons Bar

901 Fourth Avenue, San Diego

The owner of The Commons Bar, Jake Pescatello, does more than deliver the rent and sign the paychecks of his employees. Starting in his father’s modest East Coast restaurant empire as a dishwasher and busboy, he’s always had a hand in what he calls “selling fun” in the hospitality business.

Jake Pescatello

That salesmanship includes coming up with cocktails that he considers, in one of his preferred words, “killer.”

In a good way, of course.

Take for example the creation he calls the Skinny Scorpion – riffing on the “Skinny Margarita” craze. Pescatello says he developed the drink with one eye cocked toward synergizing his cocktail and food menu and the other fixed on keeping the drink’s promise as one of the bar’s featured “Uncommon Cocktails.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

“We saw that there was a demand in San Diego for something like the Skinny Scorpion,” he says, explaining its genesis in terms of demographics and market trends.

But that’s Pescatello speaking through his business owner hat — which he readily doffs and, trading it for a mixologist’s, that’s when he really gets down to business, describing the heart of his creation — the Espolon Blanco distilled in the Jalisco highlands.

“You’re going to get all the typical notes associated with blanco tequila,” he says, “but because of the high altitude of where it’s made it’s got a much smoother finish than most people are used to.”

Waxing eloquent on the profile and nuances of his Skinny Scorpion, Pescatello says, the tequila works as a bright line between the cocktail’s disarming first impression and the sudden strike of its spicy tail.

“What’s going to hit the palate first is the sweetness of the lime juice and agave nectar,” he says, “and then you’re going to get the bright smoothness of the tequila and then a little bit of bite at the end with the fresh jalapeno. That’s how it tastes. Sweet, bright and bite.”

HOW TO MAKE IT:

In a cocktail shaker, muddle:

  • • 1 oz. agave nectar
  • • 1/4 oz. freshly squeezed Lime Juice
  • • 3 slices fresh jalapenos
  • • 5 fresh cilantro flowers

Add ice to the shaker and pour:

  • • 1.5 oz. Espolon Blanco Tequila

Shake vigorously, pour into a low ball with ice and top with a splash of soda water. Garnish with jalapeno wheel, lime slice and cilantro flower, and brace for the whiplash.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Undocumented workers break for Trump in 2024

Illegals Vote for Felon
Skinny Scorpion
Skinny Scorpion
Place

Commons Bar

901 Fourth Avenue, San Diego

The owner of The Commons Bar, Jake Pescatello, does more than deliver the rent and sign the paychecks of his employees. Starting in his father’s modest East Coast restaurant empire as a dishwasher and busboy, he’s always had a hand in what he calls “selling fun” in the hospitality business.

Jake Pescatello

That salesmanship includes coming up with cocktails that he considers, in one of his preferred words, “killer.”

In a good way, of course.

Take for example the creation he calls the Skinny Scorpion – riffing on the “Skinny Margarita” craze. Pescatello says he developed the drink with one eye cocked toward synergizing his cocktail and food menu and the other fixed on keeping the drink’s promise as one of the bar’s featured “Uncommon Cocktails.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

“We saw that there was a demand in San Diego for something like the Skinny Scorpion,” he says, explaining its genesis in terms of demographics and market trends.

But that’s Pescatello speaking through his business owner hat — which he readily doffs and, trading it for a mixologist’s, that’s when he really gets down to business, describing the heart of his creation — the Espolon Blanco distilled in the Jalisco highlands.

“You’re going to get all the typical notes associated with blanco tequila,” he says, “but because of the high altitude of where it’s made it’s got a much smoother finish than most people are used to.”

Waxing eloquent on the profile and nuances of his Skinny Scorpion, Pescatello says, the tequila works as a bright line between the cocktail’s disarming first impression and the sudden strike of its spicy tail.

“What’s going to hit the palate first is the sweetness of the lime juice and agave nectar,” he says, “and then you’re going to get the bright smoothness of the tequila and then a little bit of bite at the end with the fresh jalapeno. That’s how it tastes. Sweet, bright and bite.”

HOW TO MAKE IT:

In a cocktail shaker, muddle:

  • • 1 oz. agave nectar
  • • 1/4 oz. freshly squeezed Lime Juice
  • • 3 slices fresh jalapenos
  • • 5 fresh cilantro flowers

Add ice to the shaker and pour:

  • • 1.5 oz. Espolon Blanco Tequila

Shake vigorously, pour into a low ball with ice and top with a splash of soda water. Garnish with jalapeno wheel, lime slice and cilantro flower, and brace for the whiplash.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gonzo Report: Eating dinner while little kids mock-mosh at Golden Island

“The tot absorbs the punk rock shot with the skill of experience”
Next Article

San Diego Dim Sum Tour, Warwick’s Holiday Open House

Events November 24-November 27, 2024
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader