By pure coincidence, immediately after I received Erin R’s recipe for a black “Headless Horseman,” my friend Chris F. sent me a recipe for a “Black Magic Margarita.” Who knew that there’d be multiple recipes for black cocktails?
Whenever I hear the phrase “Black Magic, I think of my dad. Let me explain: Dad was skeptical about almost everything, and when a heating/air conditioning guy came out to fix Dad’s furnace, Dad pronounced that the work he did was “black magic.” It’s the only way Dad could reconcile the fact that a twenty-something guy with a community college degree could successfully fix something that had stumped him.
Anyway, a “Black Magic Margarita” is clearly more Halloween-appropriate than a generic margarita. So let’s make one!
The Recipe: Before I provide the recipe, let me acknowledge that I’ve cut all the ingredients in half. The original recipe was created by a bourbon distiller, and they call for a full 4 oz (!) of their bourbon for this cocktail. I think half that would be more than enough. So, all the ingredients listed here are cut in half.
So here’s my altered recipe: combine 2 oz bourbon, 1 oz orange juice, 1/2 oz Triple Sec, 1 oz lime juice, and 1 oz agave nectar in a shaker with ice. Shake, and pour into a glass with ice that’s had the rim prepared with black sugar icing. Add 1.5 oz sparkling water, and green, red, and blue food coloring. Stir.
The Ratings: The appearance of this drink is suitable for something called a “Black Magic Margarita.” But I must acknowledge that the color, while very dark, has a distinct green cast. The idea (according to the recipe) is that combining red, blue, and green food coloring should produce black. But that’s not the case, even after I repeatedly added a drop of this and a drop of that. If you want a black cocktail, I recommend adding activated charcoal (as we did for the Headless Horseman yesterday).
So, the appearance gets a 2.5 (brought down a bit because of the green cast).
But let’s talk about taste: Yum! This is a very tasty cocktail indeed. It’s not your typical margarita. For starters, it uses bourbon rather than tequila. And while I do appreciate tequila (and even more than that, Mescal), bourbon provides a bolder taste with notes of brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, and various spices. This particular cocktail balances the bourbon and the sweet agave nectar quite well. The orange juice and lime juice lend a solid citrus backbone, and the sugar on the rim ensures a sweet finish. It’s a complex cocktail that goes down easy. I have to give this 4 points. Seriously. This is an enjoyable drink. Now I’m thinking that maybe I shouldn’t have cut all the ingredients in half!
The name of this cocktail is moderately cool. “Black magic” is a Halloween theme of course, but “Black Magic Margarita” not an especially imaginative name for a black margarita. I’ll give the name 1.5 points…and that’s my final offer.
Grand Total: 8 points.
Chasing Phantoms 