I Make Pour Decisions - Week 3

Week 3 - The Stroange Margarita



For week three, I knew I needed to make a trip to the liquor store to beef up my liquor cabinet.  I looked ahead a few weeks to see what I might make and headed to the store.  I left with my wallet $100 lighter and everything I needed, as well as a few things I didn't even know I needed!  No one said my drink making hobby was going to be cheap!  You can check out some of my liquor store haul in the photo below.  Side note, I'm building up quite the home bar!  I feel like a grown up, except that I was already a grown up, just a lame one.  lol! 




For week three, I decided to venture out a bit and try a frozen margarita.  I personally prefer a margarita on the rocks, with lots of salt, but the point of doing this blog is to try new things and get out of my comfort zone.


I chose the Stroange Margarita for my first frozen attempt.  The recipe is a traditional margarita recipe, with the addition of Grand Marnier, strawberries and orange zest.  It seemed simple enough looking at the picture in the book.  I carefully, cut up and the ingredients, threw them in the blender, added ice and turned it on.  I knew immediately I had made some kind of mistake.  It was more of watered down Icee®  than the frozen slush of perfection I had in mind.  It didn't look anything like the picture and I was pretty disappointed with myself. 


However, even though it looked ridiculous, it tasted amazing.  I thought about it for a few minutes and then decided to apply the lesson I learned from week one, which was, sometimes you have to deviate from the recipe.  This hurt my rule following heart a little, but I gave it a try.


I took the frozen Ice concoction and put it into a margarita shaker and shook everything over ice.  I got a new glass, added salt to the rim and then strained the mixture into that glass over ice.  I added a strawberry and an orange wheel for garnish.  It was adorable!


I truly can't believe how good my disaster turned out to be.  I think I'll wait a few more weeks to attempt another frozen drink, but in hindsight, I'm pretty sure I just added too much ice and probably used the wrong blender setting.


Lesson Learned: Patience is needed in the drink making process.  Sometimes you have to go with the flow.  I could have given up on my slushy disaster after my first attempt, but I'm so glad I didn't.  A new awesome cocktail emerged out of something I first thought was ruined.  


Recipe
1 1/2  ounces white tequila
1 ounce Grand Marnier
1 ounce orange juice
1/2 ounce lime juice
1/2 ounce lemon juice
1/2 ounce simple syrup
2 strawberries & orange zest


Level of difficulty: 5
Taste: 8.5
Overall: 8

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