ECBM

After the utter horror of the filthy, repellent Rathfinny Blanc des Noirs 2015 – fucking shit that was horrible – I vowed to report on another drink within five hours. This presented me with a problem.

When I am at home in Winchester and open a wine that ends up going down the sink, I find it hard to open a second bottle. I feel offended, I feel hurt, I feel let down – maybe another winemaker will treat me badly again; I am sure my psychiatrist would say it is something to do with my childhood.

So, wine is out! Luckily, I have something up my sleeve. The Editor and I have been trying some variations on our original margarita recipe. After The Horror Rathfinny we leapt to our cocktail shaker to perfect a new drink. So allow me to present:

The Elitistreview Citrus Boosted Margarita

You will need the following ingredients to construct this fabulous margarita of mind-altering heroism:

  • Limes and lemons – in the ratio 3:1. Ripe, juicy, ideally unwaxed; basically the usual cocktail fruit requirements.
  • Ice – you know? Frozen dihydrogen oxide.
  • Tequila of passable quality – no need to use anything overly flash, a hint of roughness adds to the margarita’s bite. We had Sauza Hornitos to hand and it was perfectly adequate.
  • Cointreau Blood Orange – the secret ingredient! Not that it is terribly secret now, of course, but you do not have to tell your guests that this is why your margaritas have the fruitiness of the blood orange flesh and the bitterness of its zest.

Tequila and Cointreau Blood OrangeStrangely, for an Elitistreview cocktail, the spirit ingredients are so lacking in alcohol (do not worry, the ECBM’s will not) that they will freeze if you keep them in the freezer. Therefore, keep the spirits in the fridge and, an hour before you mix Elitistreview Citrus Boosted Margaritas, transfer them to the freezer. After you have mixed put them back in the fridge – they will remain cold enough for you to mix more within an hour or two.

Method

For two ECBM’s take the juice of three limes and one lemon, squeezed with vigour to extract zesty oils, and place them in a cocktail shaker. Add 100ml tequila and 100ml Cointreau Blood Orange. Add ice then shake briefly but briskly and strain the margarita into two martini glasses. No salty rim on the glass, this is anathema.

If your limes and lemon are as big and juicy as ours, and your hand as shaky whilst measuring the spirits over the cocktail shaker, you may well find yourself asking, “Davy said this was for two! Is there no way this margarita will fit into two Riedel martini glasses?”

The answer is: Yes! There is no way! The idea is that you bring the shaker to the table with the chilled glasses, pour two cocktails and, as soon as your love has drank a large enough slug from their glass, you lean over and fill their vessel with a big delivery from your tube (see picture below).

Fill me from your ECBM silo!

The Elitistreview Citrus Boosted Margarita is my favourite expression of the margarita, displaying all the characteristics of that cocktail in pleasingly expressive form. Please feel free to try mixing your own ECBM and if you have any modifications to the recipe, particularly lowering the quantity of spirits, let The Editor’s sudden desire for a kip and my headache assure you that you are wrong.


Since this variation on the margarita was perfected in wonderful, wonderful Winchester, I trust all true Wintonian cocktail bars will start serving ECBM’s immediately. Please remember, bartenders in Winchester and beyond, this is a cocktail that is mixed for two people. Two people who do not necessarily have to see all that well after a couple of drinks in your bar.

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