How To Make A Margarita With Grand Marnier
The process of mixing up this delightful beverage is so easy. Heres what youll do:
Sangria With Grand Marnier
Sangria is a wine cocktail that you can make with either white wine or red wine.
Typically, sangria is infused with various types of fruits, and it tastes even more wonderful when it is allowed to sit for a while.
This recipe is a red wine sangria that uses apples, lime slices, lemon slices, tangerines, orange juice, and oranges. Its made absolutely perfect with the addition of Grand Marnier.
Have you wondered what to mix with Grand Marnier? When you fancy a cup of tea, how about spiking your favorite Earl Grey with some Grand Marnier?
This cocktail uses Earl Grey loose tea, granulated sugar, and water to make the simple syrup.
For the cocktail, you need ice, the simple syrup, Grand Manier, fresh lemon juice, and an orange slice for garnish.
Do you want to learn more about all of the different types of Grand Marnier for your Grand Marnier drinks? Watch this video.
What’s The Best Salt For Rimming A Margarita
Avoid fine-grained salts, particularly iodized table salt, when rimming your margarita glass. The crystals are simply too small, get clumpy when wet, and create a very salty cocktail. For a much better drinking experience, choose a coarse salt, such as kosher salt or sea salt flakes. While there are plenty available and the flavors are fun, you don’t need a dedicated “margarita” salt it’s often just kosher or sea salt. You can even make your own flavored salts with citrus zest, herbs, and spices.
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All About Grand Marnier
Whats Grand Marnier? Its a French liqueur that blends Cognac, bitter orange, and sugar. The bottle youll typically see is actually called Cordon Rouge: thats the Grand Marnier brands most popular product. Grand Marnier can also be used as a generic term for orange liqueur.
What does Grand Marnier taste like? Youll taste bitter orange and brandy, and then backend notes of vanilla and oak. Yes, its fancy!
What’s The Best Tequila For A Cadillac Margarita
Taste is subjective, and everybody has their own idea of the “best” tequila. Personal budgets are a factor as well. For some people, a $30 bottle of tequila is a luxury, whereas others might consider tequilas over $50 to be top-shelf. The simplest recommendation is to pour the premium tequila that is a luxury to you. After all, you’re the one drinking the Cadillac margarita, so you should enjoy it and be comfortable with the amount of money you spend.
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Tips On How To Make Margarita
As I mentioned above, the best ingredients make the best margaritas. Try to get the best tequila and orange liqueur and make your own margarita mix. You can always make the ahead of time and keep it in the fridge.
When making margaritas, there is an extra step you can take to make sure you have the best tasting margaritas. When I was bartering we, always took an extra step of mixing the ingredients with the milkshake blender. NOT blending them with ice, but just blending liquid ingredients together to thoroughly mix them.
At home, I pop the liquid ingredients together in a blender and pulse a few times to blend . If you dont have a blender or just do not feel like taking that extra step, then just combine liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker vigorously shake for 15-20 seconds.
Pour well blended margarita over ice or straight up and dont forget the salted rim!
IS MARGARITA GLUTEN FREE?
Yes, margarita is typically a gluten free cocktail. Tequila is made out of agave and therefore, is a gluten free alcohol. Luckily, Triple Sec, Grand Marnier, and Cointreau are gluten free liqueurs so they are also safe to be added to your margarita.
How To Make Homemade Sweet And Sour Mix
- Start with a cup of granulated sugar.
- Add water and simmer over medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved.
- Next, add half a cup each of fresh lemon and lime juice. Youll need about seven plump lemons and limes. Helpful tip alert! Microwave your fruit for about ten seconds and then roll on the counter with your hand to get those juices flowing.
- Your Sweet and Sour Mix is now ready! You can store it in a sealed container in the fridge for about a week, or even longer in the freezer.
This recipe makes enough for about 2 pitchers of margaritas, using 1 1/4 cup for each pitcher.
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Simple Variations For A Multitude Of Cocktails
This one simple mix can form the basis for hundreds of cocktail recipes.
This simple recipe for sour mix serves as the basis for endless variations on sours, margaritas, daiquiris, and collins.
Making this mix at home lets, you use natural ingredients and play with the proportions to match your preferences, and adjust the mix to fit with whatever youre making with it.
Some easy variations are to add more or less sugar based on your preferences or to try different sweeteners, such as agave syrup, raw sugar, or Demerara sugar.
The variations are almost endless when it comes to the types and ratios of citrus being used, which can include lemons, limes, grapefruit, and oranges, to name a few. If youre feeling adventurous, try mixing in some blood oranges, key limes, or tangerines.
To highlight the flavor of the fruit, use a vegetable peeler to remove strips of zest that can be added to the mix. Just make sure to strain them out before mixing any cocktails.
A good rule of thumb is to use a 3:1 ratio of water and juice to sugar when starting to experiment.
If you want something closer to commercial mixes, add a 1/2 cup of fresh lime juice to the base recipe, which will sweeten the mix without adding extra sugar.
If You Liked This Grand Marnier Margarita
A Sinatra Smash Cocktail is pure fruity fun with deep sultry bourbon undertones.
Love tequila? I know I do! This is probably my summer go to: A tequila sunrise.
Try it without the goofy umbrella, shake it up and serve it straight up. Add a little cherry juice at the end and watch it fall to the bottom to create this gorgeous concoction.
Bees Knees is a beautiful balance of herbal spicy ginger, sweet deep bourbon, and bright sassy lemon. This cocktail has got zip while still being as laid back as a sultry summer day.
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Make This The Summer Of The Grand Margarita
Words by Christopher Turner
Summer is officially here, which means its time to chill out and master the art of the warm-weather cocktail. Every summer has its own personality, and were declaring this one the season of the margarita classic, blended, or on the rocks.
As friends begin to gather , margaritas can definitely help set the mood. No matter which recipe you follow, Grand Marnier a unique Cognac-based liqueur is the perfect ingredient. It makes libations a tad more interesting and adds complexity because the Cognac base offers more flavor than ordinary triple sec.
To spice things up, we asked Toronto-based cocktail wizard Robin Goodfellow to guide us through a few easy-to-follow recipes that are guaranteed to impress. Goodfellow knows a thing or two about serving up a perfect drink the heavily tattooed bar chef has made a name for himself in recent years as one of the citys top mixologists. I love Cognac and Cognac-based modifiers, and Ive added my personal touch to these margarita variations, Goodfellow says.
Later this year, Goodfellow will open VELA a massive 4,000-square-foot restaurant and bar in the heart of Toronto. The highly anticipated establishment is taking over a beautiful historic building at King and Portland, and promises food, live jazz, live blues, a full patio, cocktails everywhere, and a bunch of empty seats because everybodys on the dancefloor.
Classic Grand Margarita
Tasting notes: Tart, agave, orange, light
Platinum Margarita
A Better Sour Mix For Better Cocktails
Traditionally sour mix is a variation on simple syrup made with freshly squeezed lemon and lime juices.
Making sour mix at home is a simple way to improve the look and flavor of cocktails. Mixing up a batch takes around 10 minutes and is worth it with the fresh citrus creating refreshing cocktails with subtle flavors.
Unfortunately, sour mix, or as it is often referred to, sweet and sour mix, has gotten a bad reputation from the ridiculously sweet, neon green, radioactive commercial mixes served at bars and sold in liquor stores. Mixes laden with artificial flavors, corn syrup, and food coloring.
Most of these mixes are so cloyingly sweet that they overpower the alcohol theyre being mixed with and create drinks that are only good for nights you dont want to remember.
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Why We Love This Recipe
- Easy to make: you just need 5 ingredients and less than 10 minutes to throw together a batch of these Grand Marnier margaritas!
- Best of the best ingredients: every ingredient in this Grand Marnier margarita is top of line. High quality reposado tequila and orange liqueur, freshly squeezed orange and lime juice it’s absolutely delicious.
- Perfect for any occasion: this Grand Marnier margarita is fancy enough for a special occasion, but also easy enough for every day.
How To Serve The Best Margarita With Grand Marnier
This margarita is delicious alongside classic chips, guacamole, and barbacoa tacos. I know this sounds a little less obvious, but because of the rich spices and warm notes of flavor Grand Marnier brings to the mix, it is also super tasty with a slice of strawberry yogurt pie or chocolate strawberry truffles.
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Dont Salt The Entire Rim
Like your Margaritas with salt? Season away, but take care when rimming the glass. Excess flakes will inevitably fall into your cocktail, throwing off its flavors and balance.
Cocktailers like industry legend Dale DeGroff advise salting a segment of the glass rim instead of its entirety. It prevents your drink from ever getting too saline, and gives you the option of taking a sip with or without a mouthful of salt.
Generally speaking, if we do a rim we do half a rim, Don Lee, partner, Existing Conditions in NYC, says. That way everyone has the option. Make sure you are only salting the outside of the rim of the glass, too, Lee says.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
The ultimate premium margarita: Cadillac margaritas use only top-shelf ingredients to make a drink that goes down oh-so smoothly.
Quick and easy as it gets: This may be a high-quality margarita, but that doesn’t mean it’s difficult to make. Even the beginner mixologist can whip up this simple cocktail like a pro.
Universally beloved: Everyone loves even a basic house margarita it’s a delicious cocktail with the perfect balance of sweet and citrus notes, and it’s great for any occasion. Now imagine how happy they’ll be when you set a top-shelf margarita in front of your guests.
Perfect for parties: Not only is a Cadillac margarita a real crowd pleaser but you can easily size up the recipe to make a pitcher for serving a large group.
Related: If you love this recipe, make sure you also try my classic margarita or branch out and try some fruity margaritas, such as my pineapple-coconut margarita and raspberry margarita! They all make for one good margarita.
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How To Make A Grand Marnier Margarita
1. Prepare a cocktail shaker with ice or prepare a glass with a few ice cubes. You dont need to do this in one particular way as long as the drink is cold, it will taste good.
2. Rim the glass with salt if you choose to. Run a cut lime wedge around the rim of the glass, then dip in a plate with salt. Set aside.
3. In a cocktail shaker or glass, add all the ingredients and shake or stir to combine well.
4. Strain into the salt rimmed glass and serve with ice.
How Strong Is The Cadillac Margarita
In general, the margarita is not a light cocktail because it’s made primarily with liquor. Additionally, Grand Marnier is 80 proof, which is the same as the average tequila. With those factors in mind, the Cadillac margarita’s alcohol content falls around 27 percent ABV , or about half the strength of a straight tequila shot.
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Orange You Glad You Bought Liqueur
The easiest ingredient to overlook is the orange liqueur. Triple sec seems like a weird thing to buy for just one cocktail, right? Cant you just add a splash of orange juice or something?
Not if you want a well-balanced drink. Triple sec, a term used interchangeably with curaçao, is a type of orange liqueur that provides fruity flavors as well as sweet and bitter notes all of which are essential for a well-made Margarita. Popular labels include Cointreau, Combier, Pierre Ferrand Curaçao, and Grand Marnier.
Swanson likes to use Cointreau in her Margaritas because its made with bitter orange peels, so she finds it drier than many brands of triple sec, and considerably less sweet than brandy-based Grand Marnier, she says.
Kearns opts for Cointreau or Combier, the 1834 orange liqueur that purports to be the worlds first triple sec. David Mor, beverage manager at Cindys in Chicago, prefers Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao in his Margaritas.
The most important thing there is to avoid anything that is simply called Triple Sec, Kearns says. This was a marketing statement devised by Cointreau at one point in its long history, and knock-off brands latched onto it. Consider yourself warned.
What’s The Difference Between Grand Marnier And Cointreau
Grand Marnier and Cointreau are often considered the best brands of orange liqueur. While they’re both flavored with the same citrus fruit, 80 proof, and enjoyable on their own, there is a noticeable difference in taste. Grand Marnier has a cognac base and is flavored with bitter orange essence it’s rather sweet but in no way cloying. Cointreau uses a sugar beet alcohol base, is flavored with sweet and bitter orange peels, and is slightly drier and crisper.
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Bourbon And Grand Marnier Cocktail
Sometimes, keeping it super simple is the best way to go, and perfect simplicity is what you get with simple bourbon and Grand Marnier cocktails.
Make sure you use true bourbon, which must be aged for at least two years in new charred oak barrels that have good airflow.
This recipe calls for Grand Marnier, good bourbon, sweet vermouth, and fresh lemon juice.
Garnish your Grand Marnier and bourbon cocktail with a lemon slice and serve on the rocks.
When a cocktail is so simple, sometimes it is just beautiful, and thats exactly why The Beautiful Cocktail is called that.
The Beautiful cocktail is also sometimes called a French Connection Number 2.
This recipe follows the theory of the B& B , which says you should enhance a good brandy with nothing but top-shelf liquor.
For The Beautiful Cocktail, use Grand Marnier and a premium cognac.
Why I Love Sangria Margaritas
- Red Wine as needed
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Sour Mix: Whats On The Shelf
There are dozens of commercial sour mix available at grocery and liquor stores, sometimes called sweet and sour, margarita, Collins mix, or lemon-lime mix. Sometimes it comes in a big plastic jug, small artisan-looking bottle, or bag of powder, but however it comes, store-bought sour mix compromises on flavor and freshness.
Cheap sour mixes are made from artificial lemon and lime flavoring along with corn syrup, coloring, preservatives, and stabilizers. Higher-end mixes are made with juice from concentrate, citric acid, and sugar. Despite its appearance, commercial sour mix is not made with radioactive citrus and will not give you super powers.
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Taste Difference Between Cointreau Margarita And Grand Marnier Margarita
The Cointreau margarita is a refreshing and citrusy drink that is perfect for summertime. It has the taste of Cointreau, lime juice, and tequila which makes it very smooth on your tongue. Cointreau is a triple sec liqueur that is made from orange peels.
The Grand Marnier Margarita has the taste of Grand Marnier, lime juice, and tequila. It is a little bit sweeter than the Cointreau version, but it still has that smooth citrusy taste. It is perfect for summertime for the refreshing orange flavor.
The lime juice in the Cointreau Margarita helps to give it that citrusy taste. It also makes the drink a little bit more refreshing and thirst-quenching. But the lime juice in the Grand Marnier Margarita does not have as much of an impact on the overall taste, but it still gives it a nice citrusy flavor.
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