07/22/08 05:10 PM
By Dan Dunn
Like many a diehard Van Halen fan, the Imbiber would have preferred the Sammy Hagar years had never come to pass. Granted, VH produced a number of chart-toppers during its eleven-year Red Rocker era (1985-1996), but as anyone who caught the band in concert on their recent tour can attest, tracks such as “Why Can’t This Be Love?” and “Summer Nights” reached new levels of sonic stupendousness with the dynamic David Lee Roth on vocals. Plus, didn’t the world just seem a little less exciting without Diamond Dave swinging from the rafters in pastel-colored “mandex” tights?
Now that Roth and his hair plugs are back in Van Halen and all is right again in the Rock and Roll Universe, wither go Hagar? Well, over the past decade he’s achieved tremendous success rocking people’s worlds in a different sort of way — one drink at a time. Named after Hagar’s popular chain of Mexican cantinas, Cabo Wabo is a premium tequila that tastes so good, Sammy can almost be forgiven for having bitterly complained, after he’d been booted from the band, that guitar virtuoso Eddie Van Halen’s playing style was “limited.” (May the Rock Gods have mercy on your soul, Hagar!)
I prefer tequila that is slightly aged, and found that Cabo Wabo Reposado offers the purest expression of the blue agave from which it’s distilled. The 80-proof reposado smells like a florist shop and is bursting with citrus flavor. It’s an ideal spirit for mixing margaritas worth flicking a Bic over, but it rocks even harder in one of the Cabo Wabo Cantina’s signature cocktails, the Renegade — a concoction so delicious and refreshing, Hagar can almost be forgiven for having penned the aural abomination that is Rick Springfield’s “I’ve Done Everything for You” … almost.
Cabo Wabo Reposado tequila retails for $49.99 per bottle
