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

One of the crucial essential issues to learn about cocktails is that after you have the ratios memorized, there’s limitless room to experiment. Take the margarita as our instance: Whereas precise portions can shift barely to go well with preferences, the fundamental ratio is 2 components tequila to 1 half every triple sec and contemporary lime juice. From there, you can begin swapping in a distinct spirit for the tequila. 

That’s the pondering behind the mezcal margarita, which swaps tequila for its smokier cousin. However right here’s the attention-grabbing half: You don’t all the time should swap one spirit for one more. A major instance of that is the 50/50 margarita, which has develop into 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)—however it brings unimaginable depth to this drink. The result’s smoky but floral, with the wealthy and nutty flavors of sherry—its advanced, layered, and arguably much more sippable than your common margarita.

The Key Components for a Fabulous 50/50 Margarita

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

Begin with an incredible mezcal. Let’s get this straight: mezcal is just not a kind of tequila—tequila is a kind of mezcal. I made this cocktail for our crew with each Mezcal Verde Amarás, an Espadín-based mezcal that’s extensively accessible in US shops, and Ojo de Tigre, a mix of Espadín and wild-harvested Tobalá an agave selection identified for its fruity, advanced flavors. It doesn’t matter what you select, the secret’s 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—however 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 type of sherry with flavors of fig, toffee, and dried fruit. Our colleague and Meals & Wine editorial director, Dylan Garret, put it completely: “It has an identical earthy profile to agave nectar, but additionally 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 elements or make any syrups.”

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

Salt your rim—with type. What’s a margarita with no salted rim? I exploit a 50/50 mixture of kosher salt and Tajín for one thing a little bit 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 a little bit extra particular.

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