La Margarita Azul

I made this drink during the calm right before the storm Sunday night. I have to give you guys full disclosure here. I am not much of a Margarita drinker. Its just not a cocktail that I have been really interested in drinking. I've had a few Margaritas, but its not my drink of choice. But this one here seemed to pique my interest. Like the Coupe de Ville beer cocktail from my previous post, it was quite easy to make and very refreshing. Here is the recipe as found in the Mr. Boston's Official Bartender's Guide 75th Anniversary Edition:

Blue Margarita
1.5 oz. Tequila Blanco
.5 oz. Blue Curaçao
1 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

Rim glass with salt and fill with ice. Shake ingredients with ice and strain into prepared glass.

I used El Espolón tequila blanco rather than well blanco tequila. What I noticed immediately from you standard Margarita was the color of the cocktail. Instead of pale yellow to mild orange normally seen with a Margarita, this drink was electric blue. The Blue Curaçao was used to replace Triple Sec which is usually used in Margaritas.

What I didn't know was that Blue Curaçao is a liqueur flavored with the dried peel of the laraha citrus fruit. The Spanish brought the sweet Valencia orange with them to grow on the island of Curaçao after arriving on the island in 1499. According to the Curaçao of Curaçao website, this is what happened next:

The different climate and soil conditions however changed this juicy fruit to a kind of bitter, almost inedible produce. In short the project was forgotten and the "misfits" of the once proud "Valencia" oranges grew wild and abandoned, not even touched by our infamous goats. It was not till decades later (the exact date is lost in history) that someone discovered that the peels of this orange, thoroughly dried by the sun, contained an etheric oil with an extraordinary pleasing fragrance.

Somehow, after experimenting with the oils of the Laraha oranges, a recipe came to the Senior family who further experimented with various exotic spices until they were sure to have found a unique liqueur which, with a kind of chauvinistic enthusiasm, was called Curacao Liqueur.

By this time, the stepchild of the Valencia orange had received its own botanical name: "Citrus Aurantium Currassuviensis", meaning "Golden Orange of Curaçao". In the local tongue however the orange was simply named "Laraha".

So now that we have the history lesson out of the way, the drink was as I expected it to be. It was flavorful which I would attribute to the usage of El Espolón and the fresh lime juice rather than well tequila and rose's lime juice. Since I tend to limit the amount of salt I consume in my diet, the rimmed glass of salt was a bit too much for me. But then again, someone who doesn't have the issues with salt would probably enjoy it. I'm not sure if I would personally have one again but I would be willing to make one for someone who wants something different from the regular Margarita.

Happy Drinking,
Sisco Vanilla