Kalimotxo

I tried my first Kalimotxo (pronounced Cali-mot-cho) cocktail last night - created it myself at home. If you aren't familiar, this is a traditional Spanish cocktail consisting of equal parts red wine and cola over ice and a lemon garnish.

I heard about this cocktail from a few people and read about it on a few blogs as well. It is talked about more during the holidays (in my opinion) and I finally decided to concoct it myself. 

I bought a bottle of Intermingle red wine at Aldi this last weekend. For $7, this bottle was decent for a red blend - easy to sip on and won't overpower any meal.  I would compare it to Ménage a Trois; similar label styling, its a red blend, similar taste. 

I had one glass of the wine first to enjoy, and then decided to make a Kalimotxo. 

I grabbed a rocks glass, filled it with some cubes and then half wine, half diet cola. The only thing I was missing was a lemon for garnish, but because I am not one for fruit on my drinks because of my low tolerance to Vitamin C, I wouldn't have gotten it that way at a restaurant either.

I grabbed a comfy spot on my couch, turned on Parenthood on Netflix, and relaxed with the Kalimotxo. 

My first sip was....interesting.  It tastes like cola and red wine, something I wouldn't think would go together . But after sipping some more, I realized why this combination works. It adds sweetness to the wine but not like a white soda. It's adds the caramel flavor to the drink and makes it a richer, deeper flavor, but still adding sweetness to the wine. I would never recommend making this drink with a more expensive red wine.

I don't know if this would become a staple for me in my "drink repertoire," but it's definitely something that tastes ok. There are some cocktails that I try exactly one time and decide that is enough for me - most drinks with gin or brandy are on that list. A Kalimotxo would be something that I might try again.