Posts Tagged ‘tropical drink ideas’

Margarita Cocktail – all in Pictures

Was speaking with Tom, one of the good people running our local Hickory, NC, ABC store and a big Margarita fan, about the need to use quality ingredients to make a Margarita cocktail the full-on flavorful way it was meant to be made. Though no one agrees on that exact origin of this wildly popular cocktail, the “original” Margarita recipe calls for only the following 3 ingredients/ratios (minus the salt on the glass rim that I never use): 1 part lime juice, 1 part orange liqueur and 2 parts tequila.

Considering that tequila makes up half the drink and is, therefore, the Margarita flavor driver, I strongly agree with the dead-on accurate advice I’ve gotten from my good friend and well-trusted Julio’s Liquors owner, Ryan Maloney, and his staff, as well as what I’ve read in print and on-line that the best tequila to use to make a Margarita is 100% pure agave blanco (white) tequila, like the one shown in the photo above. As an alternative, and to make a less dry (sweeter) drink, you can use reposado tequila, which gets its name from “resting” (that’s what “reposado” means)in oak barrels for 2-24 months.

Once you’ve decided to use good tequila, I certainly recommend not ruining it with low grade orange liqueur, like run-of-the-mill triple sec. Instead, use a higher grade orange liqueur, which, yes, is more expensive but is well worth the price if you want a crisp, clean, explosively flavored Margarita. My go-to orange liqueur, which was recommended by my same Julio friends, is Pierre Ferrand Orange Curaçao, which has a flavor very much like Grand Marnier but is not as syrupy sweet.

Finally, there’s no substitute for fresh lime juice even if you don’t have a citrus juicer and have to squeeze the lime by hand.

Here’s what I use to make a fresh Margarita:

Click this link or any picture on this page for a complete fresh Margarita picture book recipe – and enjoy! (Tom, I appreciate the fun talk the other day!)

Fresh Mai Tai: Full-On Tropical Holiday Flavor – All in Pictures

Mai TaiAll right, the winter holidays – every one of ‘em – is right here and now, and I sure wish you Happy Holidays!

The other day while I was in downtown Boston, a good friend of mine, Andrea, mentioned that she and her family were going to have a luau Christmas this year. Terrific! It turns out Andrea will be in charge of the drinks and was thinking about making mai tais. Great! “Only, I’m quite sure I know how to make them,” she said. No problem, I told her. I have a recipe – all in pictures – at my site. I drilled up the site on my phone to show her right then and there and realized that what I’d had available wasn’t quite as clear as wanted it to be. Again, no problem. That’s one of the beauties of working digitally.

I got home, reshot and rewrote the recipe, and now have it here good to go.

Mai Tai Picture Book Recipe Read more »

Papa’s Pilar Mai Tai – All in Pictures

 

How much more fun could it be than to write about my favorite spirit, a writing hero and an inspiring drink-making legend – all at once?

First, the rum. Papa’s Pilar is a tribute to Ernest “Papa” Hemingway and his “never a spectator” love for life – a love he shared with friends aboard his “Pilar” Caribbean traveling fishing boat. You bet, I got a wry smile reading how, just like Hemingway, Papa’s Pilar is billed as “Bold, well-traveled, uniquely American”. Read more »

“Out of This World” Mai Tai Cocktail – All in Pictures

Mai Tai

Mai Tai is Tahitian for “out of this world”. Victor “Trader Vic” Bergeron created his signature drink in Oakland, California in 1944 and is remembered for saying, “Anybody who says I didn’t create the Mai Tai is a dirty rotten stinker!”

That full-on attitude matches the rich citrus, almond and rum “out of this world” flavor of this popular tropical cocktail.

Rule of thumb to make two 4-ounce drinks: for every 2 ounces of lime juice, add 1/2 teaspoon sugar, 1 ounce almond (orgeat) syrup, 1 ounce orange curaçao 2 ounces white or amber rum and 2 ounces dark rum. Just click any picture on this page for a complete step-by-step picture book recipe.

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