Beta testing, guinea pigs, and space monkeys

Before we place any new concoction, apothecary or otherwise, across the rail, we find a few brave souls who are willing to imbibe our concoctions. Most of the time the responsibility falls upon the shoulders of off-duty bartenders who are, and let us be honest, more than willing to be the monkey shot into space for the sake of a little research and development. Tonight, we experimented with the aphrodisiacs.

Before I continue, I must say that I was the monkey for the bulk of the soporifics and stress reducers/resistors that we will feature in the fall. That was fun...So, now we are a couple of stages later where we are experimenting with maca, yohimbe, and cacao. First the cocktail:
1.5 oz reposado tequila
1/2 tsp maca
1/2 tsp cacao
.5 yohimbe infusion
.5 kava infusion
a couple of healthy shakes of cayenne
.5 simple
Shake like hell and strain.

Initially the cocktail was earthy, dirty, and not quite there. I added .5 Licor 43 and that rounded it out. The drink was nice, but still not quite there. I think a different base spirit would work better...or maybe with the yerba mate infusion. That would certainly make for a long night...

So to the effects. My ever willing and always compliant test subject expressed feeling a bit funny initially. It very well could have been from the fact that it was a rather stiff cocktail, but we waited to see how it played out. After about half an hour, our little space monkey did indeed feel a bit randy. I'm not sure what to think about this as it could be the power of suggestion, a psychosomatic reaction, or simply the unremitting charm of the bartender. What we are left with are more questions. I suppose more exploration is necessary...