Parrothead Party Margaritas

Grab your Hawaiian shirts, your coconut bras, and your grass skirts - Jimmy Buffett is in town! All parrotheads will rejoice in the madness that is a Jimmy Buffett concert tonight at Wells Fargo Arena. So, of course, all good parrotheads will be tailgating before the show - WELL before the show - so I thought a special drink recipe was in order. While we've enjoyed the fun at a Jimmy show in the past, alas, we will not be joining the fun tonight. We'll be there in spirit, though, while we drink a couple of these tasty margaritas!

If you know anything about Jimmy Buffett music (and we most certainly do - his CD's are on high rotation at the Iowa Foodie compound and in the car on XM's Margaritaville station), drinks are of high importance in many of his songs - you've heard of Margaritaville, right? So I thought a fun twist on the original margarita would be the perfect Jimmy Buffett tailgate drink!

I call this margarita The Parrothead Party Margarita. It's great on the rocks, but I'm sure there will be lots of Frozen Concoction Makers whirring away during pre-concert festivities, so go ahead and blend it if you like!

First off, one of the ingredients in this drink is sour mix. Most commercial sour mixes taste like imitation yuck and there's no reason to buy sour mix when you can easily make something that's infinitely more delicious. So let's make our sour mix first.

Here's what you'll need:

Sour Mix

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

Make simple syrup by bringing the sugar and water to a boil, about 7 minutes. Stir to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat and let cool.

Get out your lime squisher and squish up some lemon and lime juice.

Strain the freshly squeezed juice into a container, discarding the pulp.

Pour in the cooled simple syrup. Shake or stir well and use immediately or refrigerate. It should last a week or two in the fridge. You now have a fresh, versatile, and easy cocktail mixer for all of your favorite beverages.

OK - on to the margarita!

Here's our cast of characters:

Parrothead Party Margarita

1/2 cup sour mix
1/2 cup orange juice
1/3 cup grapefruit juice
1/2 cup tequila

Serves 2 parrotheads or 4 non-professional drinkers.

Measure all ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice.

Shake or stir thoroughly. Doesn't Grant look happy? He's almost drinking a Parrothead Party Margarita!

Ice up your margarita glasses and fill 'em up! You can salt the rim if you like, but I forgot that part. Too excited to taste test, I guess.

Mmmmm.....margaritas. These are really refreshing. The fresh sour mix and juices really make for a smooth taste - it's not too sweet, not too tart, mostly just too awesome - especially on a late Sunday morning. Seriously good brunch beverages.

So we hope all of you parrotheads have a great time tonight - sing all the songs for us, wear your best tropical get up - and mix up some Parrothead Party Margaritas for the tailgate. Fins up!

Comments

[daninboulder]

"Serves 2 parrotheads or 4 non-professional drinkers."

THAT is a funny line

[Amy]

Thanks, daninboulder! We didn't have any trouble downing this recipe - just the two of us. Sad to say. Or maybe NOT.