Sunset Cocktail: Rosemary Ginger Mezcal Margarita on National Margarita Day
2 oz Xicaru Silver Mezcal
1 oz Cointreau
1 oz Meyer Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Rosemary Ginger Simple Syrup*
2 dashes Hella Bitters Lemon Ginger
Start by drawing a Lemon wedge over the rim of a Cocktail glass (I don’t have any actual Margarita glasses) and rim with salt. Then shake everything with ice and strain into the salt rimmed Cocktail glass. Garnish with a sprig of Rosemary.
*Rosemary Ginger Simple Syrup
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 ounce ginger, chopped
1 large sprig of fresh rosemary
Combine everything in a small sauce pan and heat to a near boil. Take off the heat and simmer for 30 minutes making sure the sugar is dissolved. Allow to cool and strain into a clean, glass container you can keep in the fridge.
Following further along the 2017 Sunset Cocktails Calendar we see that today is National Margarita Day. While this syrup is rather tasty, and would probably also work well with Gin, I do hate Margaritas.
I must say, that if I did happen to like Margaritas I’d praise them for their immense variety and perceived versatility. Unfortunately those are some of the very reasons I hate them. People seem to throw whatever miscellaneous bar items or some fuckery of a fruit smoothy in a blender, add Tequila, then call it a Margarita. Even the one I got the idea for this one from with Tequila, Lime, Sugar and the snootiest of Sparkling Water(?!) completely leaves out the use of a lovely Triple Sec.
“A margarita is a cocktail consisting of triple sec, tequila and lime or lemon juice, often served with salt or sugar on the rim of the glass. The drink is served shaken with ice, blended with ice, or without ice.”
Now I totally understand, love, advocate, and often make variations on cocktails. I’ll even go so blasphemous as making a Rum Martini** as long as the rest of the drink actually still resembles a Martini, leaving the name ‘RUM’ Martini to signify the deviation. I did try to keep this particular variation fairly basic with the addition of the syrup and use of Mezcal (Tequila is a Mezcal and I just don’t ever have any Tequila around). I guess I’m inconsistently picky but if you’re going to just leave out important core shit, then just call it something else for Satan’s sake.
Maybe next year I’ll try to come up with some kind of Absinthe Margarita I can tolerate.
** Though, I really gotta say, any Martini that doesn’t have Gin in it should be subjected to stop and frisk before it’s allowed into the general population. I did end up changing the name of my R’lyeh Rum Martini after a good, critical conversation and much mental shadowboxing as it contained neither Gin nor Vermouth.
