Lightning Margarita
Thomas J. Story
AuthorEric Alperin

“Born of the need to serve 50,000 cocktails over a weekend musical festival known as Lightning in a Bottle, our partners Jean Michel and Jeffery have come up with a fresh and speedy spicy margarita that now lives in our Red Dog taps,” says Eric. “We batch fresh ingredients into a quarter keg that we blast through every day.”

How to Make It

1

To Make the Spicy Agave Syrup: In a medium saucepan, combine the water, jalapeños, navel orange zest, mint, and salt. Cover and bring to a boil, then immediately reduce to a simmer. Cook 15 minutes, then strain syrup into a measuring cup. Mix in twice as much light amber agave as water and reserve for use.

2

Measure all cocktail ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Add 5 ice cubes and shake for 8 seconds. Strain into a rocks glass with fresh ice and garnish with a cucumber wheel.

3

PRO TIP: Peel and cut tips off cucumbers before juicing them in a centrifugal juicer.

Ingredients

For the Spicy Agave Syrup
 ¼ cup water
 2 jalapeños (stemmed and sliced lengthwise)
 1 tbsp navel orange zest
 3 mint leaves
 pinch of salt
 about 6 oz light amber agave
For the Cocktail
 2 fl oz Tepozan Blanco tequila
 ¾ fl oz fresh lime juice
 ½ fl oz spicy agave syrup
 ½ fl oz cucumber juice
 1 cucumber wheel

Directions

1

To Make the Spicy Agave Syrup: In a medium saucepan, combine the water, jalapeños, navel orange zest, mint, and salt. Cover and bring to a boil, then immediately reduce to a simmer. Cook 15 minutes, then strain syrup into a measuring cup. Mix in twice as much light amber agave as water and reserve for use.

2

Measure all cocktail ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Add 5 ice cubes and shake for 8 seconds. Strain into a rocks glass with fresh ice and garnish with a cucumber wheel.

3

PRO TIP: Peel and cut tips off cucumbers before juicing them in a centrifugal juicer.

Lightning Margarita

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