Ventura County’s Jaguar Moon
This is a take on the always-popular Spicy Margarita and makes a lot of sense for a summer wedding on the sunny South Coast. The cocktail modifiers reinforce tequila’s earthiness and savory qualities while highlighting some of the fruit notes found in mezcal taste profiles. The saline and savory manzanilla is a perfect bedfellow and flavor amplifier for the blanco tequila, significantly enhancing the spirit’s green notes while keeping the cocktail appropriately dry. The chile notes come from a highintegrity vodka made by American distiller St. George Spirits. Pineapple syrup complements some of the notes found in mezcal while bringing a second dose of citrus acidity, and cucumber cools the entire cocktail. Firewater bitters make it as spicy as you can take!
Ingredients
- 1 ounce blanco tequila
- ¾ ounce fresh-squeezed, strained lime juice
- ½ ounce manzanilla sherry
- ½ ounce St. George chile vodka
- ½ ounce pineapple syrup*
- ¼ ounce cucumber syrup**
- 1 teaspoon mezcal
- 2 dashes orange bitters
- 1 dash firewater/habanero bitters
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker. Fill with ice. Shake vigorously for 8–12 seconds, then strain into an Old Fashioned glass filled with ice. Garnish with a fresh mint sprig.
TO MAKE IT FOR A CROWD
- Scale up all elements of the recipe, except for the bitters. Keep bitters at a 50% level when scaling up (example: a 10x volume increase for all ingredients correlates to a 5x increase in bitters). Add 15% pure cold water. Add more to taste if needed; the goal is for the drink to be slightly “hot” (requiring time to rest over ice). Dry-shake (without ice) and keep refrigerated until service. During service, dry-shake (no additional dilution needed) and pour into a Margarita glass filled with ice. Garnish with a fresh mint sprig.
PINEAPPLE SYRUP
- Great options can be purchased online at Small Hand Foods. If making at home, combine 1 part fresh-squeezed, strained pineapple juice with 1 part organic sugar. Emulsify or blend, then refrigerate. The syrup is good for 2 weeks.
CUCUMBER SYRUP
- Combine 1 part fresh-squeezed, strained cucumber juice with 1 part organic sugar. Emulsify or blend, then refrigerate.
Notes
Photo: Brian Sikich
