An icon of sunshine and good times, the Margarita has been the inspiration for countless variations over the years. Itself a riff on a classic cocktail – the Daisy – it has spanned the globe in blended, fruity, and spicy forms, and many more besides.
‘The Margarita is the perfect combination of sweet, sour and salty, all in a few ingredients,’ says Erin Davey, head of bars at Soho House US. ‘Its simplicity allows people to easily adapt it to their personal taste.’
‘People love them because they are refreshing and super enjoyable, so any twist already has a bit of a head start,’ agrees Marina Juszczyk, head bartender of London bar Soma.
At its most traditional, the Margarita consists of tequila, lime juice and an orange liqueur, or triple sec, such as Cointreau, and usually sporting a salt rim. Unlike some classic cocktails where variations sometimes switch out the core ingredients, Margarita twists invariably involve the addition of compatible flavours. ‘You generally have to keep the lime and tequila at a minimum,’ says Jake Burger of The Portobello Star in London’s Notting Hill.
A case in point is the Tommy’s Margarita, created by Julio Bermejo of Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant in San Francisco to highlight the flavour of tequila in the drink. Arguably the most prevalent contemporary Margarita twist, it’s made with just tequila, lime juice and agave syrup, and has become the starting point of many modern takes on the Margarita too.
While the Tommy’s doesn’t use a salt rim, a number of the below drinks do, employing a variety of interesting salts. Creating a salt rim at home is simple: place the salt in a saucer, run a wedge of lime around the rim of the glass – usually half of its circumference – and then press the rim into the saucer.
Beyond the Margarita: cocktails to make at home
Try making one of these Margarita twists at home. Recipes are arranged in order of difficulty, from simple serves to mixes for more ambitious home mixologists.
Tommy Pickles
Recipe from The Portobello Star, London
This straightforward twist on the Tommy’s Margarita – named after the lead character in 1990s animated TV show Rugrats – introduces a measure of pickle brine into the mix, an ingredient that Jake Burger of The Portobello Star considers to be ideal in a Margarita riff. ‘The combination of sweet and tart echoes the structure of the Margarita in many ways, so it slots into the drink perfectly.’ He attributes the Tommy Pickles to The Portobello Star bartender Joe Farr, while acknowledging the recent viral video by Matthew McConaughey featuring his tequila brand Pantalones and a Margarita made in a jar of pickles. ‘There are very few new ideas in the cocktail world – I’m sure a few people have probably come up with something similar,’ says Burger.
Ingredients: 50ml Ocho Blanco Tequila, 25ml lime juice, 12.5ml agave syrup , 20ml pickle brine from sweetened pickled cucumbers
Glass: Rocks
Garnish: Slice of pickle, cut lengthwise
Method: Combine ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake hard and strain over ice into a rocks glass.
Paloma
Recipe from Side Hustle, NoMad, London
To really go beyond the Margarita, there’s another classic tequila cocktail that’s been growing in popularity in recent years: the Paloma. At its simplest, this combination of tequila, lime juice and grapefruit soda is a wonderful, thirst-quenching drink, but lends itself well to a few subtle upgrades too, as with this version from Side Hustle bar at NoMad London. ‘We add a small amount of mezcal to round out the texture, and shake with a twist of grapefruit to release the essential oils and aromas, bringing both brightness and freshness,’ says bar director Liana Oster.
Ingredients: 43ml Tapatio Blanco Tequila, 14ml Del Maguey Vida Mezcal, 14ml agave syrup, 21ml lime juice, 28ml grapefruit juice, grapefruit twist, grapefruit soda
Glass: Highball
Garnish:…
Source : https://www.decanter.com/spirits/beyond-the-margarita-cocktails-to-make-at-home-530121/
