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3 craft cocktails under 130 calories

3 craft cocktails under 130 calories

Jovan Abernathy is an international marathoner and owner of Houston Tourism Gym. To claim your free tour, contact her at info@tourismgymhtx.com

Here at SportsMap, we love to stay active, but we also love to drink often. I'm sure you have heard Fred and AJ talking about their wild nights in Vegas. It got me thinking: what drinks can I have that taste good but are low in calories? Oh, there's one catch. I'm a total snob when it comes to food and drink.

So I started the search for creative, craft cocktails that are 130 calories or less. When I went down the rabbit hole, I found three drinks. (I'm sure there is more, but I had to drive home). I also learned some cool stuff along the way. Here they are:

Sparkling Pamplejousse at HopDoddy

Sparkling Pamplejousse

One of my favorite places for lunch is HopDoddy. They have an awesome Happy Hour with damn good food. The drinks are poured the way I like them. STRONG. I ask my favorite bartender, Christy, for a tasty, low calorie beverage. She makes me the Sparkling Pamplejousse. Here is the recipe (ish)

Start with 1 and 1/2 oz. of Deep Eddy Grapefruit Vodka. Rose, (as in the wine), sparkling grapefruit soda, a dash of Rhubarb bitters, lemon and a rosemary spring.

This decorated mimosa makes for a crisp, dry, cocktail with citrus notes and herbal nuances. It pairs well with HopDoddy's Farmer's Market Salad.

Hemingway Daiquiri at Miss Carousel

Hemingway Daiquri

As I continued my search, I found myself walking into the newly opened Miss Carousel in Eado. Miss Carousel, a concept from the Agricole restaurant group (think Eight Row Flight in the Heights) is the lounge to Indianola. The decor looks like the gentlemen's club in a Sherlock Holmes movie.

I approach the bar and ask for their best low calorie cocktail. "That would be the Hemingway Daiquri." Says the bartender. "Tell me what you think." He pushes it towards me. Just the way I like it. STRONG.

"Why do they call it the Hemingway Daiquri?" I ask. The bartender tells me to look it up. This is what I found. It's named after Ernest Hemingway, the famed author of For Whom The Bell Tolls (its not just a hit song from Metallica). Ernest Hemingway walks into El Florita Bar in Old Havana. He asks the bartender to make him a good drink. He is given the Daiquiri.

After taking a swig, Hemingway says "I like it, but I'll take no sugar and double the rum." The drink has beared his name ever since. Note that Hemingway was a diabetic and a known alcoholic. It is also said that he had 17 of these Daiquiris in one afternoon.

To make your own Hemingway Daiquri ,pour 2 oz. White rum in a shaker. Add 1/4 Luxardo marichino liqueur. Finish with grapefruit juice and lime juice and of course, no sugar.

Whiskey Pick at Rodeo Goat

Whiskey Pick

I walked across the street to Rodeo Goat. They are known for the Dueling Goats or 2 specialty burgers that vie for best burger every month. (The crazy name is due to this crazy story about the owner getting goats drunk at the Houston Rodeo at the age of 9). There, I'm introduced to the Whiskey Pick. It's simply a shot of Jameson followed by a shot of pickle juice. After searching the internet, I found some "bucket list " information.

Did you know that there is a marathon in the Speyside region of Scotland that finishes near the distilleries? 84 of them to be exact. Each runner finishes at a scotch tasting. This year the Dram will have its 3rd Annual Marathon withat least 1500 runners. I wonder if Fred would ever run that one. I might add it to my own bucket list.

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Astros beat the Nationals, 5-3. Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images.

Justin Verlander allowed two runs and four hits over six innings to win his season debut for the Houston Astros, 5-3 over the Washington Nationals on Friday night.

The 41-year-old right-hander, who began the season on the injured list because of right shoulder inflammation, struck out four and walked none, throwing 50 of 78 pitches for strikes in his 258th win.

“He looked really good," Astros manager Joe Espada said. "Efficient, threw a ton of strikes.”

Verlander (1-0) averaged 94.3 mph with 35 four-seam fastballs and induced five groundouts. The nine-time All-Star retired the side in order four times and improved to 5-0 with a 2.08 ERA in five regular-season starts against the Nationals.

Ildemaro Vargas hit an RBI single in the third and Riley Adams homered in the fourth, cutting Washington’s deficit to 4-2.

Verlander had made a pair of minor league injury rehabilitation starts.

He retired his first eight batters before Adams doubled off the base of the wall in right-center field.

“Yeah, pleasantly surprised, honestly," Verlander said. “I kind of tried to cram spring training into three starts and control wasn’t quite what I would have liked. The rehab starts and then just look at mechanics and try to find something to make it click. I think what I worked on between last start and this start, just being a little more directional.”

Verlander was 13-8 with a 3.22 ERA last year for the New York Mets and Houston, who acquired him ahead of the trade deadline. Espada was hopeful Verlander could key an early season turnaround.

“It’s very important," Espada said. "Despite how we started, it’s a long journey. we need him to lead us through this season. We have been in this before. We just got to be patient, continue to fight and once this rotation gets healthy and we start hitting our stride it’s going to be fun.”

Josh Hader allowed Jesse Winker's sacrifice fly in the ninth and got his second save, striking out his final two batters.

Houston (7-14) stole five bases and stopped a three-game losing streak. Jeremy Peña and Mauricio Dubón had three hits each, Yainer Diaz doubled twice, and Kyle Tucker doubled, singled, walked twice and stole two bases.

Washington manager Dave Martinez was ejected by plate umpire Cory Blaser for arguing a caught stealing call against Vargas that ended the eighth. The Nationals are celebrating the fifth anniversary of their 2019 World Series win over Houston in seven games.

MacKenzie Gore (2-1) allowed three runs and seven hits in four innings.

“Frustrating," Gore said. "But it was kind of one of those things where it wasn’t bad. We had a chance. I thought the bullpen was really good again. I just wasn’t good enough. It wasn’t terrible. I just need to be a little better.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Espada says LHP Framber Valdez played catch Friday and felt well. Espada expects Valdez to throw a bullpen session of 30-40 pitches this weekend.

UP NEXT

RHP Ronel Blanco (2-0, 0.86) starts Saturday for Houston against RHP Trevor Williams (2-0, 3.45).

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