The $26 Margarita

[hollywood]

$26 at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills.

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo...1,2984904.story

Painless LATimes registration req'd.

[BobL]

I saw one in Santa Fe last year for $46. But the tequila used was El Toroso Paridiso ($135 a bottle) and Grand Marinier 150. I didn't try it.

[Suzanne F]

Then there was the Peninsula's $26 Millionaire's Margarita: a concoction of "fine tequila and rare Cognac reserves from grande Champagne with an essence of wild tropical oranges."

It's, ahem, served with a straw.

When you sip all this extravagance, it tastes a whole lot like the usual Margarita mix, except for an interesting dryness on the back of the palate, and a kind of smoky funk.

Paging JAZ, Paging JAZ

[=Mark]

It's my understanding that using these high end tequilas to make a margarita is the equivalent of Making a 7&7 with 24 year old aged single malt scotch and diet 7Up.

[vengroff]

Anything beyond Tres Generaciones or Cuervo Gold does not belong in a margarita. Of course, anything much less isn't worth drinking at all.

And since someone mentioned Grand Marnier 150, I have to say that's the biggest crock of a marketing ploy I've ever heard. The 150 does not refer to anything other than the age of the recipe. It's made with the recipe they used to use 150 years ago, but there's not evidence that the quality is superior or that the ingredients even cost any more for that matter. I refuse to go near the stuff.

[BobL]

I have to disagree with vengroff & =Mark ( the chilehead). Unless you make your margaritas with some sort of sweetened mix or add simple syrup to your drinks.

I make mine by taking a shot of tequila, top shelf; a shot of tripple sec, cointeau, grand marnier, or curacao, and a shot made of fresh squeezed limon, lime and orange (tangerine, tangelo or blood orange) juice, shake and serve staight up in a salted glass. This mix allows the flavor of the agave to shine through, while giving the fruity tastes of the critus to give some tart flavor.

I learned this recipe from my brother in law in Albequerque who learned from a friend of his who owns Marias in Sante Fe and wrote a book called "The Ultimate Margarita", if I remember correctly. Robert Redford wrote the forward for the book and if good enough fro Redford it's good enough for me.

We NEVER use mixes or crushed ice. This recipe has become a Friday night MUST at our house, and in the winter keeps away colds and flu.

I realize that this is a personal opinion but I can really tell the difference in an El Tosoro or Chinaco and a Cuereo Gold. In fact I never drink Cuervo gold, it ain't real tequila. Tres Generiaciones is OK along with Hornitos and Cuerve Tradicionale. I won't even order them in reaturants any more. But I'm a tequila snob.

[JAZ]

I make mine by taking a shot of tequila, top shelf; a shot of tripple sec, cointeau, grand marnier, or curacao, and a shot made of fresh squeezed limon, lime and orange (tangerine, tangelo or blood orange) juice, shake and serve staight up in a salted glass.  This mix allows the flavor of the agave to shine through, while giving the fruity tastes of the critus to give some tart flavor....

I realize that this is a personal opinion but I can really tell the difference in an El Tosoro or Chinaco and a Cuereo Gold. ...

I agree about the tequila to a certain extent, but your recipe sounds a little sweet for my taste. Do you really add equal amounts of tequila and triple sec? I prefer 2 parts tequila, 1 part triple sec and 1-1/2 parts lime juice. I don't care for Grand Marnier in my margaritas; they end up tasting like brandy instead of tequila.

But back to the question of tequila quality. I think there's a point of diminishing returns when using high end spirits in mixed drinks. I do notice a difference when I use very expensive tequila in margaritas, no doubt about it, just as I notice a difference when I make a gimlet with very expensive gin or a sidecar with very expensive brandy. But I can only afford to buy a limited amount of very expensive spirits, and for me, there are better uses for them than sidecars and margaritas and gimlets, wonderful though they might be. So I use Gordon's gin in my gimlets and save my Cascade Mountain for martinis; I use Hornitas in margaritas and save the Los Arangos for sipping.