I’m not sure if food or drinks actually taste better if you make them, but perhaps that effect (let’s call it pride) factored into my favorite Drink of the Week, an unnamed cocktail I made with my two hands on August 1. Milagro Tequila hosted a media dinner at The Eveleigh, with brand ambassador Gaston Martinez as our spirit guide in the ways of cocktail construction. We started across the street at Sunset Strip Market, where the group made communal decisions to purchase particular herbs from Gourmet Specialties and stone fruit from Summer Harvest Farms.

Back on The Eveleigh’s astroturf’d patio, we found an impressive mise en place featuring dishes of assorted fruits, vegetables, and herbs, which were all fair game for our second and third cocktails of the night. The second cocktail was a group effort, and for the third cocktail, which required añejo tequila, I was flying solo. I decided to keep things simple, muddling four chunks of sweet white Goldline peach with four fuzzy sage leaves before adding two ounces of añejo and two ounces of lime juice. Martinez said lime juice delivers “brighter” results, as opposed to lemon, which makes cocktails “rounder.” The aged tequila’s caramel flavor melded pretty well with the stone fruit, sage and acidity. Would my simple drink make the cocktail menu at The Eveleigh? No way, but it was a fun exercise with seasonal products.