Spicy Margarita

I really never liked margaritas like most people tend to. I mean, I will be the first to admit that the $5 giant margaritas from Chevy's in college was a past time that I fondly look back on, but it was never my cocktail of choice. After bartending for a good amount of time, I definitely began turning my nose up at the concept of sweet and sour mix, and would wholeheartedly like to take it out of every bar imaginable and pour it down the drain. Even when I bartended, I absolutely refused to use it. I would instead sit and squeeze out bottles of fresh lemon and lime juice, the entire time convincing myself that every person was like me.

So basically, most local digs use sweet and sour mix in margaritas, I had grown to accept it, and hence grown to never drink margaritas.

My friend Kate's dad is a man of a few traditions. The first one being that you have to take a snakebite when you arrive at his cabin in the woods. This tradition doesn't get by anyone, and that shot of whiskey and lime juice does indeed burn, which immediately told me that this guy doesn't mess around. 

The second drink Mr. Adamson has up his sleeve are his margaritas. I discovered those on not that trip, but on a trip to his home, where laying by the pool and having margaritas are commonplace. It is the most simple and absolutely best margarita ratio ever. I have been fond of the margarita since.

Ever since that fondness has entered my brain, I have made some slight alterations to it on occasion, sometimes adding fruit, sometimes adding some simple syrup, but hands down the best, was the concept of pepper in the margarita. It was something I used to do at an old bartending gig, but their recipe was a little different, and at home I tweaked it to emulate the simplicity of what I loved about what I remember as my first good margarita.

Spicy Margarita

1 Serrano Pepper

1 oz Triple Sec

1 oz Lime Juice

2 oz Tequila

1/2oz - 1 oz Simple Syrup (depending on how sweet you want it)

Muddle the Serrano Pepper with the lime juice until you feel you have really mashed it all up.

Add the triple sec, tequila & simple syrup to the shaker glass with some ice and shake up the concoction.

Have a rocks glass ready with some ice in it and this on top.

Use the cocktail strainer to strain over the strainer into the glass (this will keep any serrano peppers out of your cocktail).

sip and enjoy.