The days of running between our bar room and kitchen to make cocktails are here again. Whiskey Sours, Old Fashioneds, and slight twists on both have been on the home menu lately. They’re easy, you don’t need many ingredients, and both allow for some creativity. The same goes for Margaritas and other easy Cinco de Mayo beverages. 

Today was a little different from year’s past. It didn’t include celebrating with the masses at Mariachi de Oro, but it still incorporated tacos and guacamole. We divided and conquered our evening, Alix covered food and I made us some cocktails. While it’s late in the evening, we still wanted to share some ideas for you to play with at home. Let us know how they go. 

For starters, consider our basic sour formula: 2:1:1 or 1.5:.75:.75 (which means 2 or 1.5 parts base spirit, then equal parts sweetener and citrus). After you determine which one you like the most, the ingredients are simple. 

Basic Margarita

While you might read the original is 3:2:1, my preference is 2:1:1. Also, don’t use sour mix. 

Recipe:
2 ounces of Tequila Blanco 
.75 ounces Triple Sec
.25 ounces simple syrup (1 part sugar / 1 part water)
1 ounce of fresh lime juice
*Shake the beverage (helps to better incorporate the citrus) and pour over ice. I’m not a big fan of salt on my rim, so if you want the flavor and a little more craft you can make a saline solution. By adding a couple drops you get the flavor without the rough texture. 

Margarita #2

Using the same formula, you can add different flavor combinations to up your game. Alix and I both really like Mezcal, so much so that we often just sip it instead of adding it to a cocktail. For this Margarita, I looked to combined sweet, herbal, and smokey. 

margarita-2

Recipe:
1 ounce Tequila
1 ounce Mezcal
.25 ounces of green pepper syrup (1 cup of sugar / 1 cup of water / half a green pepper diced)
.75 ounces Elderflower Liqueur
.5 ounces Genepy (optional, it cuts the sweetness)
1 ounce lime juice
*Shake the drink with ice and strain it over ice. I would garnish this with either a lime wheel. If you want an earthier drink, using a green pepper wedge as the garnish will accomplish that. If you don’t have Genepy or another herbal liqueur, you can always leave it out and tweak the Tequila to 1.5 ounces and cut the Mezcal back to .5 ounces.

Boy from Oaxaca

Some of you may already know this drink, because I think it’s one of the best we’ve ever put on our menu. The drink is a tribute to our dear friend Leo. It’s a little more complex, includes a couple harder to find ingredients, but it’s worth the extra steps. 

sfcocktails-1

1 ounce Mezcal
.75 ounce Amaro Averna
.5 ounce honey syrup (2 parts honey, 1 part water)
.5 ounce of lime juice
1 egg white
2 dashes of mole bitters
*Shake all of the ingredients together without ice, then add ice and shake again. Strain into a coupe and sprinkle a line of chili powder on top.

Get your ingredients ready and let us know if you tried one of these. For those wondering, of course we’ll also be eating Guacamole. 

Happy Cinco de Mayo week!