Sharkbait’s Cocktail of the Week: Allez Les Bleus!

Or…. not since the French fell to the Springboks in the World Cup… that they were hosting. That’s a bit disappointing, especially for a (somewhat surprising) top 5 ranked nation. Thankfully the good people of France can set their footy woes aside and eat and drink their pain away in some of the best food in the world. With that in mind, I’m trying a drink recipe from a recently acquired book called Drinking French By David Lebovitz. From what I’ve read of it so far, this is going to be a gem in the library. The book doesn’t just cocktails (despite the title) but café drinks, aperitifs and great looking bar snacks as well. Rest assured, I’ll be referencing this one a lot, be it in this space or on my own.

Anyway, on to the drink. I found an interesting sounding spin on a margarita called La Marguerite. I was a little surprised to see a French twist on a margarita, but then I remembered the attempts of France to make Mexico a “client state” (puppet) in the 1800s, so it really isn’t all that surprising that some of the culture would make its way back to the motherland.

Le Marguerite

1.5 oz. Lillet Blanc
1 oz. Tequila Blanco
.75 oz. Orange Juice
Half wheel of orange or lime to garnish

Add the Lillet, tequila, and orange juice to a cocktail shaker. Fill with ice and shake until well chilled. Strain into a chilled coupe glass or into a short tumbler, or rocks glass with ice. Garnish with the citrus wheel half.

The aroma here is fairly mild. However, I do pick up a considerable amount of the tequila, and the lime from the garnish is there. If you blindfolded me and asked me what this was, I would tell you this was a margarita in a nanosecond.

Now this flavor is rather interesting. It doesn’t start out like a margarita at first, but then the ingredients come together to a familiar crescendo of classic margarita goodness. The initial flavor bright and crisp, thanks to the Lillet influence. The majority of the flavor though is lost to the tequila. Of which, is present all the way throughout which is what you would expect from a margarita, but about maybe a half step down in intensity, which isn’t a bad thing I think. The orange juice acidity is almost completely covered by the Lillet and the tequila. It leaves the orange flavor untouched with is great in this application as I think anything too acidic would throw off the balance of this drink.

The finish is the harmonious mixture of all the flavors as mentioned above. Nothing lingers on the palate either, so you can go back in for another sip almost immediately after finishing one without any leftover flavors interfering with subsequent enjoyment.

This was good. Very good actually. I think I still prefer an original margarita over this, but I’d definitely make this for someone who was just starting out in tequila, or thinks they hate tequila because of a bad experience with it one night. Have a good weekend!

(Banner image courtesy Matthew Tetrault Photography)