The Midnight Masquerita
Some margaritas belong beside a pool in broad daylight. This isn’t one of them.
The Midnight Masquerita was made for October nights, questionable costumes, flickering tiki torches, and that mysterious point in the evening when somebody says, “I’ve got an idea.”
That’s usually when things get interesting.
What’s in the Glass
I’d make this one visually dramatic without turning it into a sugary novelty cocktail:
- 2 oz blanco tequila
- 1 oz fresh lime juice
- ¾ oz blue curaçao
- ½ oz blackberry syrup or blackberry purée
- ½ oz orange liqueur
- ¼ oz agave nectar, optional
- Black sanding sugar mixed with coarse salt for the rim
- Fresh blackberry and lime wheel for garnish
- Ice
The blue curaçao and blackberry should give you a deep midnight purple/blue color, which will photograph beautifully against an October tiki-bar setting.
Summon the Masquerita
Run a lime wedge around the glass and dip the rim into your black sugar and salt mixture.
Add tequila, lime juice, blue curaçao, blackberry, orange liqueur, and agave to a shaker filled with ice.
Shake vigorously, preferably while wearing something completely inappropriate for a grown adult.
Strain over fresh ice and garnish with a blackberry and lime.
Then dim the lights.
Best Served After Dark
The Midnight Masquerita isn’t interested in sensible afternoons.
This one wants tiki torches, Halloween music, costumes, good PHriends, and the distinct possibility that tomorrow somebody will begin a sentence with, “Do you remember when…?”
Which brings us directly to this month’s Costumes, Cocktails, and Questionable Decisions. Consider the Masquerita your liquid contribution to the evening.
What happens next is between you and the PHlock.
A Little Mystery Looks Good on You
October doesn’t need to be serious.
Put on the ridiculous costume. Stay out a little later. Laugh at yourself. Take the picture. Order the second round.
Life gives us plenty of opportunities to behave like responsible adults.
Halloween doesn’t have to be one of them.
Here’s to masks, mischief, Midnight Masqueritas, and just enough questionable decision-making to give the PHlock something to talk about.
Fins Up and bottoms up!
