Welcome To Wonkette Happy Hour, With This Week's Cocktail, The Perfect Margarita!
Last boat to Margaritaville, boarding now.
Greetings, Wonketeers! I’m Hooper, your bartender. And it is stinking HOT outside. I’ve had an elegant stirred cocktail in mind for a while, but when it’s this steamy, screw it, I want a margarita. I’ve talked about this very popular drink a few times, but I’m seeing a few new riffs on this classic worth talking about. Let’s make a Perfect Margarita. Here’s the recipe:
Perfect Margarita
2.5 oz Exotico Reposado Tequila
1 oz Stirrings Triple Sec
.75 oz fresh lime juice
Shake all ingredients over ice. Double strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with a lime twist.
There are a ton of different flavors of margaritas out there. Tequila and fruit love each other, so it’s no surprise that strawberry margaritas, watermelon margaritas, et al. have their place on the bar menu. They’re tasty and wonderful on a hot day. However, I’ve been seeing a new, minimalist take on margaritas in my bartender circles. What happens when you take out all the flourishes and sweet juice from a margarita and reduce it down to its essence? No fruit, no salt, not even simple syrup — what’s the real, authentic core of a good margarita taste like?
When the margarita is stripped to its bare essentials — tequila, triple sec, and lime — it takes on the same structure as a daiquiri. And just like a daiquiri, balance becomes everything. Too much lime, and the drink’s acidic. Too much triple sec, and it’s flat. But unlike a daiquiri, the flavor of the tequila becomes the star of the show in this glass. The agave flavors need to cut through the lime and sweet and shine here. A daiquiri that’s mostly lime and sugar is acceptable, but the margarita needs to be all about the agave. It’s tricky, but a rewarding effort. This margarita will linger on your palate. Sweet, smoky, funky flavors stay with you well after your first sip, putting you in a mellow Jimmy Buffet mood that takes the edge off the scorching heat outside.
A DAIQUIRI!
With so much on the line, your choice of tequila becomes critical. A blanco tequila, unaged and raw, gives you a lot more leeway in your balance. The strong agave flavors are perfect for a fancy fruit margarita. Reposado tequila, aged for only six months, becomes much more mellow while still maintaining its rustic character. An anejo tequila, aged for years in oak barrels, takes on a quality that reminds me of a fine bourbon or brandy. I love this kind of liquor, but the core flavors in anejo need support, not contrast.
I’m seeing that cristalino tequila is making a transition from ultra-premium bottles to more midrange brands. It’s a new distilling process that tries to be the best of both worlds, blanco and anejo all in one. In essence, distillers take anejo tequila and filter it multiple times, removing the color but keeping the sweet mellow notes of anejo tequila. I am, to put it mildly, not a fan. Overprocessing liquor inevitably gives you vodka. I like my tequila to taste rustic and down to earth. A grown man turned a 60 pound vegetable into booze for you. It took a lot of work. Erasing all that effort in a laboratory seems criminal.
On the other hand, I”m very pleased that another tequila trend is showing up on the shelves — 100 percent agave no-additive tequila. Mexican law says that tequila must be 99 percent pure to be deemed “real” tequila, but distillers can get up to a lot of mischief with that one percent. Artificial sweeteners such as sucralose (aka Splenda) are hundreds of times sweeter than real sugar. I was very pleased to find that Exotico, one of my favorite midrange blends, is 100 percent agave. This is a trend I want to support.
Let’s talk ingredients:
Exotico Reposado Tequila: Use your favorite tequila here. I won’t judge. If you have a really expensive tequila lying around the house, or need an excuse to buy, this is the recipe for it. I find that reposados strike a good balance between blanco and anejo tequilas — perfect for this simple, beautiful glass.
Stirrings All Natural Triple Sec: This is my favorite affordable triple sec. Cointreau is lovely, but the price is out of control. Stirrings is sweet, citrus, and herbal, nicely sophisticated but not blowing the budget. Plus, it’s all natural, a perfect match for the additive-free tequila. Taste your triple sec before making the drink, to judge the sweetness level.
Lime: Here more than ever, fresh lime juice is critical. I like to garnish this margarita with a lime twist to provide the scent, but not the acid, of lime.
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OPEN THREAD!
Back home in NYC after my Midwest vacation. If you ever get the chance to ride on Amtrak in the sleeper car, DO EET!!! I didn't want the ride to end. Two beds with full size pillows and real blankets. Your own bathroom, an attendant just for the sleeper car( Dave, was great, let me know when I could get a vape break on the platform, brought me coffee and water and an extra blanket, nice tip for Dave.) Pretty good meals included, first class treatment. Breakfast was an omelet, potatoes and chicken sausage. Then I had a nap. Lunch was Beef Burgundy, mashed taters, carrots, salad, bread and butter and a butter cake for dessert. William provided excellent food service(William also got a nice tip.) With good coffee. Did some Wonking as the internet actually worked, then as a storm joined us on our route I watched the rain and lightning through a big window while sipping a cup of tea. Finally back into NYC 4 minutes ahead of schedule.
Headed for the subway and did the required feats of strength(carrying your luggage up and down a few sets of stairs.) Got on the "A" train and 2 bros and a Karen sat across from me complaining about the large amount of rainbow flags on the train adverts. Then they discussed how cute Karen pronounced "faggy" because of her Minnesota accent. Tourists coming to NY during pride and being overwhelmed by all teh ghey. So status quo morons.
Harry is smothering me with attention and Bear has accepted treats but is harrumphing from his spot, because I know what I did!
Ordered a pizza, my eating skills are improving. I had to learn how to chew again and how to swallow without being afraid of choking. Had a fucking iceberg salad on the train and it was the best thing ever, as I haven't been able to chew lettuce and really missed salads.
That was just the traveling portion, so much more with seeing my family again after many years. That will be another non-comment!
When my mother died years ago, we three adult children went back to our parents' apartment, and knowing that our father didn't like sweet drinks, we made a pitcher of margaritas. We salted the rims of the glasses, used fresh limes, and got our father pretty well snockered. He needed 1 solid night of sleep after the months at our mom's bedside. At age 69, he'd never had a margarita but he sure liked "that drink with the salt".