Creative Drinking

Delightfully smokey take on the Margarita!

Tonight I was flipping through one of last year’s issues of Imbibe for some inspiration and came across “Eight Ways To Make A Margarita”. I settled on the Nuestra Margarita, mainly for its use of Mezcal as it has been awhile since I had the bottle out, and I was intrigued by the addition of green Chartreuse. And it was also the least amount of work compared to the other seven recipes (I am not pureeing cucumber or making habanero-infused simple syrup tonight.)

Well, this turned out fantastic. Occasionally, Mezcal is a little TOO smokey for me but this was a great balance. My only complaint is that I don’t get a lot of Chartreuse in the sip. I may make another and up the Chartreuse to 1/3 oz just to check things out. Aside from that, it’s a great contender for one of my go-to summer drinks and something fun to make for my more adventurous margarita fans!

UPDATE: 
Yes, I do prefer the extra little bit of Chartreuse and I think everyone else will also.

Ingredients:

• 1 oz Mezcal (I use El Buho simply because I think the bottle is cool)
• 1 oz Triple Sec (I used Luxardo Triplum for this. It's 1/2 the price of Cointreau while remaining very high quality. Great for trying recipes for the first time)
• 1 oz fresh lime juice
• 1/3 oz green Chartreuse (altered from original recipe to taste)

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a slice of fresh lime.