What Is a 50/50 Margarita and Why Ought to You Be Making It This Summer season

One of the vital essential issues to learn about cocktails is that upon getting the ratios memorized, there’s countless room to experiment. Take the margarita as our instance: Whereas actual portions can shift barely to go well with preferences, the fundamental ratio is 2 components tequila to at least one half every triple sec and contemporary lime juice. From there, you can begin swapping in a unique spirit for the tequila. 

That’s the pondering behind the mezcal margarita, which swaps tequila for its smokier cousin. However right here’s the fascinating half: You don’t all the time must swap one spirit for one more. A main instance of that is the 50/50 margarita, which has grow to be a favourite of mine recently. Initially created by Natasha Bermudez, bar director at Llama Inn and Llama San in New York, it’s a minimalist riff that retains the basic margarita’s proportions—tequila, lime juice, and Cointreau—however replaces the tequila with a 50/50 mixture of mezcal and sherry.

Sherry isn’t a spirit—it’s a fortified wine with a decrease alcohol (15–20% ABV)—nevertheless it brings unimaginable depth to this drink. The result’s smoky but floral, with the wealthy and nutty flavors of sherry—its complicated, layered, and arguably much more sippable than your common margarita.

The Key Elements for a Fabulous 50/50 Margarita

To land on my superb rendition of this drink, I made six completely different variations that mixed numerous types of each mezcal and sherry. Here is what I discovered after tasting all the outcomes.

Begin with an excellent mezcal. Let’s get this straight: mezcal isn’t a sort of tequila—tequila is a sort of mezcal. I made this cocktail for our group with each Mezcal Verde Amarás, an Espadín-based mezcal that’s extensively out there in US shops, and Ojo de Tigre, a mix of Espadín and wild-harvested Tobalá an agave selection identified for its fruity, complicated flavors. It doesn’t matter what you select, the bottom line is to make use of mezcal that’s high-quality and ok to sip by itself.

Use a candy sherry. We began with a dry Manzanilla sherry (Valdespino), which created a crisp, citrusy cocktail—nevertheless it leaned too sharp. Then we tried a fino sherry (Tio Pepe), which was even drier and extra mineral-forward, however made a margarita that was unbalanced and in want of extra sweetness.

The breakthrough got here with Pedro Ximénez sherry, particularly from Valdespino. It’s a richly candy, syrupy model of sherry with flavors of fig, toffee, and dried fruit. Our colleague and Meals & Wine editorial director, Dylan Garret, put it completely: “It has the same earthy profile to agave nectar, but in addition brings in notes of fig, toffee, raisins, molasses, and dried fruit.”

He added, “Utilizing PX sherry offers you all these delicate, nuanced flavors, whereas additionally letting you be lazy—you don’t want so as to add a bunch of additional substances or make any syrups.”

The outcome was a wealthy, balanced cocktail that paired superbly with each mezcals, although we leaned barely towards Ojo de Tigre.

Salt your rim—with model. What’s a margarita and not using a salted rim? I take advantage of a 50/50 mixture of kosher salt and Tajín for one thing just a little extra dynamic. I solely salt one facet of the glass, so it’s solely half salty (kinda like me), becoming for a 50/50—and it retains the salt from overwhelming the previous few sips. It’s a small contact that makes your margarita really feel just a little extra particular.

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