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!

To shoot or not to shoot

Welcome to Tequila U, where we'll advise you about using the various aged tequilas - Blanco, Joven, Reposado, Añejo and Extra Añejo. They aren't created equal and have very different applications.

Agave tequila is produced from blue agave and is exclusively grown and harvested in Jalisco, Mexico. Around 1600, Don Pedro Sánchez de Tagle, the Marquis of Altamira, began mass-producing tequila at the first factory in the territory of modern-day Jalisco. Since then, it's become one the most popular spirits next to vodka, with upwards of 250 different labels to choose from.

Here are some tips for enjoying the various types:

Blanco - Blanco tequila is not aged, and is clear and transparent and must be bottled immediately after distillation. It is the base for all the other types of tequilas. It has the true bouquet and flavor of the blue agave and is typically strong in alcohol content. Perfect for mixing with cocktails and Margaritas and not great for shooting.

Joven ("young") or oro ("gold"): a mixture of blanco tequila and reposado tequila. A good blend for mixing cocktails.

Reposado - Sometimes called "rested": Blanco that is aged in white oak barrels or casks for more than two months and up to one year. A more mellow taste with a pale color. Also perfect for cocktails a Margaritas adding an aged (smoother) flavor to anything mixed with it. 

Añejo - Sometimes called "aged": Aged in white oak barrels or casks for more than one year, with each barrel capacity less than 159 gallons. The oxidation through the wood barrels gives it a unique bouquet and taste producing an amber color and more woody flavor. Best for sipping, not for using in Margaritas or other cocktails. It's just too good to mix.

Extra Añejo ("extra aged" or "ultra aged"): aged a minimum of three years in oak barrels. This category was established in March 2006. Extra Añejo is ultra smooth and for sipping only, no need for a lime or salt. 

More Tequila U to come, watch for new posts in the near future.

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.

Salt air meets a margarita

Want salt with your margie, but just a lot less of it? Salt does great things to tequila and lime, but in small doses. Too often that gritty, too salty sensation is overkill. Now, we've got it covered. With foam. The Lybations margarita comes with a cloud of lightly salted foam on top. No grit. No overkill. Just the right balance of the sweet, sour, and salty. The secret? Egg whites? A cappuccino foamer? Nope, we've made it much easier than all that.

Salt Air Foam:

1 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
2 cups water
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon soy lecithin (available at any vitamin store)

Preparation:

Combine ingredients. Tilt the bowl away from you and blend with hand-held blender held away from you. When there's an inch or so of foam on top, it's ready to use. Skim off foam onto margarita. When you've used it all up, repeat the process. Juice mixture can be refrigerated for several days, so it's great for multiple uses.