sultry lavender smoked margarita. check.

 

Smoked Lavender Margaritas

• 4 ounces of silver tequila
• 1 ounce Cointreau
• The juice of two limes and Ice
• 2 pinches of smoked salt
• 2 ounces of lavender syrup

To make the lavender syrup, boil a cup of water with a cup of sugar, 3 tablespoons of lavender flowers, and a strip of lemon peel. (The acid in the lemon peel helps preserve the colour of the flowers). Reduce to low heat and simmer for twenty minutes. Taste the syrup, you may want to add more flowers and simmer longer. Strain the flowers out.

To make the Margaritas, nearly fill the pitcher of a blender with ice, add all of the other ingredients, and blend until smooth. Taste for salt, lavender and lime, adding more if necessary to balance the flavours. Pour into chilled glasses rimmed with smoked salt.

Cheers!

Happy Margarita Day!

What you will need for this Watermelon Margarita:

• 3 oz quality tequila blanco
• 2 oz St Germain
• 2 oz watermelon juice
• 1 oz lime juice
• 1 oz simple syrup
• chipotle salt for rim (see our chipotle salt post for recipe)
• basil leaf for garnish 

Cut up some seedless watermelon. Liquefy in a blender until you have about 16 oz (for multiple cocktails). Add the watermelon juice and remaining ingredients over ice and shake in a cocktail shaker. Taste and add simple syrup if watermelon is not sweet enough. Serve in a bucket or margarita glass with a chipotle salted rim. Garnish with a slice of watermelon and basil leaf. Cheers!

margarita for dessert? Yes.

So maybe at your next gathering you want to change it up and eat your Margarita instead of drink it. This lime sorbet with tequila is a game changer for your menu.

Ingredients for 8 servings:

• 1 lime, cut into 8 wedges
• 2 pints lime sorbet
• 1 oz St Germain Elderflower liqueur
• 1/2 cup Tequila Añejo

Preparation:

Rub the lime wedges around the rims of 8 stemmed glasses. Place the sugar on a small plate. Turn each glass upside down and dip the rims in the sugar to coat.

Place 2 scoops of sorbet in each glass and pour 1 tablespoon of tequila, preferably Tequila Añejo, and 1 teaspoon of St. Germain over the top of each. Serve with a spoon.

Cheers!

See it wiggle and jiggle

If you're looking for a new and creative way to serve cocktails, then I'd like to introduce you to the wonderful world of Margarita Jelly Shots.

Jelly Shots are classic cocktails translated into gelatin, a grown-up rendition of the Jell-O Shot. The signature of a Jelly Shot include: a flavor true to the margarita cocktail and a free-spirited jiggly form that makes them dangerously delicious. Here's what you need:

• 1 (6 ounce) box lime Jell-O gelatin
• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 cup cold water
• 1/8 cup fresh-squeezed   lime juice
• 3/4 cup clear tequila
• 1/4 cup triple sec
• 10-15 thinly sliced cucumber
• Rock salt
  

Directions:

Mix boiling water and Jello. Stir for a minute until dissolved. Add rest of ingredients, stir. Pour into square of retangular baking pan, cool flat in the refrigerator for about 5 hours. Once it's set, cut into squares and wrap with cucumber skins and plate some salt on the side.

Cheers!

Chipotle salt and a Margarita too

We get fresh seasonal ingredients year round in California so it inspired us to make a sinfully delicious cocktail, as usual.

The idea of garnishing the rim with more than just salt happened as we were playing with different concepts for our margaritas.  After a fanciful mexican meal topped with a chipotle sauce, using a salt mixture with this perfect chili came to us.  So we took some pink kosher rock salt and mixed it with a bit of smoky chipotle powder-what a great color combo on the glass. The result? As you put your nose in the glass to take your first sip you get a whiff of smokiness, then taste saltiness, then a little spicy, then the finale- a perfect margarita.

A solid Reposado tequila rounds off the flavor of the chipotle, our favorite elderflower liqueur accentuates sweet floral flavors, and the fresh lime juice keeps everything just tart enough. Time to mix up the salt!

Cheers!

Chipotle Salt Rim

For the rim

• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt

• 1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle

• lime wedge

For the cocktail

• 2 oz Reposado Tequila

• 1 oz Saint Germain liqueur

• 3/4 oz fresh lime juice

Place the salt and chipotle powder in a small bowl and mix well. Spread on a small plate. Moisten the rim of a cocktail glass with the lime wedge and dip the glass rim in the salt-chipotle mixture. Set aside for the pouring of margaritas.