Happy Friday everyone. This week’s drink is a request from my friend who lurks here occasionally. He suggested the Presidente previously so I was eager to try his latest suggestion. The drink he wanted me to try is called the Margatini. Based on the name alone I’m curious as to how this is going to go. I have a feeling the mere fact this drink exists offends both England and Mexico at the same time.  Let’s find out shall we? This recipe comes from the blog Gimmie Some Oven:

1.5 oz. Gin

1 oz. Cointreau

.75 oz. Fresh lime juice

Optional sweeteners: agave nectar or simple syrup, if desired

For serving: lime wedge, coarse salt, ice

If you would like salt-rimmed glasses, begin by running a lime slice (the juicy part) around the top rim of a glass. Fill a shallow bowl with salt, and dip the rim in the salt until it is covered with your desired amount of salt. Set aside.

Add gin, lime juice and Cointreau to a cocktail shaker, and shake or stir until combined. Taste, and if you would like it to be sweeter, stir in a half teaspoon of agave or simple syrup at a time, until the mix reaches your desired level of sweetness.

Fill glass with ice. Pour in the margarita mixture over the rocks. Serve immediately, garnished with an extra lime wedge if desired.

Hoo boy. Well, this is…something. It starts out with a very gin forward taste. Combined with the lime juice, your brain (or liver) starts thinking gin and tonic. But then the Cointreau and salt come to the party and that’s where shit gets weird. The Cointreau for example is being asked to play a more central role in this drink than it should. In a margarita, Cointreau adds another citrus layer that helps the lime balance out the strong notes tequila brings to the drink. Here, the juniper in the gin is not nearly as strong of a flavor as tequila is, and it seems out of place.

As to adding agave or other sweeteners as per the recipe, I believe that would take it in a worse direction. Adding any additional sweetness would just further mask what juniper flavors come from the gin. Once you’re covering the base spirit’s flavor, it comes across as an attempt to improve a bad margarita, which in essence this drink is.

Despite the overall negative tone here, I didn’t hate it per-se. It was cold (I took the liberty of shaking over ice like a normal martini or margarita, despite the recipe leaving that bit out…), smooth and….that’s about it. The best way I can describe it is schizophrenia in a glass. It takes the base spirit of a martini, tries to make it a margarita, but ends up tasting like a gin and tonic. I wouldn’t order this anywhere, because number one: I would get many, many confused looks by bartenders, and this drink isn’t worth trying to explain to a bartender; and two: I would probably get banned from any Mexican restaurant from which I attempted to order this.

(Banner image found here.)