I thought I had blogged about this, but searching the blog turns up nothing.

Back in April, I came across a fancy schmancy version of the margarita.  It involved such twee efforts as a vodka/saline spray instead of rimming one’s glass with salt, and an arból chile tincture.

Apparently I’ve spared you the details of tracking down the arból chiles and soaking them in Everclear™ for two weeks, then creating the spritz, but let me just say that the final results were… lackluster.  Perhaps the essential ingredient is fresh key lime juice rather than the bottled, but I am so not going there.

In any case, I was now possessed of a pint of arból chile tincture.  It will keep indefinitely, so I expect to spend the summer playing with it.

This afternoon, I revisited the question of the margarita.  I used mezcal instead of the tequila blanco in the chichi recipe, and my saline solution was made from smoked sea salt.  It is tasty.  Very very tasty.

A Margarita

• splash blood orange bitters
• smoked sea salt solution
• 1.5 oz tequila or mezcal
• 1.5 oz Roses™ lime juice
• 1 oz Grand Marnier
• 1/2 tsp arból chile tincture¹
• orange juice

Rim your glass with salt.  Splash the blood orange bitters into the bottom of the glass; spritz with your sea salt solution.  Add ice.

Add the rest of the ingredients except for the orange juice to the glass.  Splash with orange juice, stir slightly.

It’s not for weaklings.  Adjust ingredients to your tastes and your cabinet.

(I had to make a second one—had to, I tell you—in order to take a photograph.)

—————

¹ Put 20 arból chiles in a clean glass container.  Add 1-3/4 cups of grain alcohol (such as Everclear™) to the container.  Cap.  Shake daily for two weeks.  Enjoy.