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3 craft cocktails under 130 calories

Jovan Abernathy
Mar 26, 2019, 4:45 pm

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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Jovan Abernathy is an international marathoner and blogger. Check out her new blog, HTown Run Tourist. Follow her on Twitter @jovanabernathy. Instagram @HTownRunTourist. Facebook @jovanabernathy. Join her facebook group: H-Town Run Tourist

Six years ago, I got this great idea to become a tourist of Houston on foot. I had no idea what I was doing or where it was going. All I knew was to put on my running shoes, walk out the door, and just go. Go learn, go talk, go ask without judgements. What I found is that Houston was full of diversity. We all knew that. However, let yourself be immersed in it. Look and listen to the sounds of different languages being spoken around you. Smell the scents of the different cuisines. You would think you were in a foreign country. This made me more curious.

As I explored the emotion of curiosity, it led me to change my behavior. Where I might have rushed to this place and to the next, I took it slower. Where, usually, I would have just assumed that I already knew, I found myself asking more questions. When I asked more questions, I had to acknowledge that I did not already know, so I practiced listening. As I listened more, I felt compelled to show more appreciation to the person who interrupted their busy day to educate me. This made me feel grateful.

I took that gratitude and wanted to share with others. It blew my mind when people would say that they hated Houston. It was boring. The people are mean and it was ugly. And even more shocking was Houston is not walkable. Instead of getting offended, I decided to do my part in brightening up the day of the Houstonians who were stuck in a rut. Who saw and did the same things day after day. I didn't judge because I knew they could get out of that rut by simply deciding that today they do something different. I braced myself for rejection, but put myself out there to share the wonderful things that I had learned about Houston. Given the chance, the vast majority, was ready to learn a different way. This made me proud.

It is true that 2020 has been full of disasters. These are opportunities if we choose to see them that way. If anything that COVID-19 taught me the answer was not MORE, but it is LESS. We have the tendency to take on too much, we had the unique opportunity to take on less. Thus, instead of going to exhaustion, we had the opportunity to rest.

Then, the tragedy of the death of Houston's own George Floyd happened. It could not have happened at a worse time. My heart goes out to his family. Some might use it as an opportunity to work out their own frustrations by causing more problems with violence and looting. My hope is that whatever happens will be an expression of appropriate sadness, but with Houston's best attributes; curiosity, gratitude, and pride. Instead of LESS it is time for MORE. MORE curiosity. To see if Houston's law enforcement cares about the well-being of Houston's black community and make changes in protocols. MORE gratitude. For the opportunity to express the frustration in a peaceful way. MORE pride. To not destroy this city and give it over to violence possibly doing more damage to the economics of business owners. We can see this as the opportunity to take time to heal.

Houston has changed. As I restart my exploration, I'm not looking for LESS. I'm looking for MORE this time. I'm looking with MORE curiosity. Because I know that we have even MORE to show each other. I'm looking with MORE gratitude because we have endured so much already and there are better times ahead. And, I'm looking with MORE pride because just as we did it before, we still have it in us to do it again. I have one request: if you see me in the streets, promise me that you will say hello.

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