Winter tires are once again put away, golf clubs are back where they belong in the trunk of the car and, most importantly, local patios are open for the busy summer season.
Canmore’s Tavern 1883 knows the importance of having a summer cocktail that not only looks fun, refreshing and appealing, but also enhances the flavour of your patio meal.
“Any of our corn or flour tortilla tacos would be the best to accompany our Bulldog Margarita, and with the red sangria, the duck nuts (duck confit, bacon risotto, aioli and tomato jam) would be great and it’s good summer fare,” said Tavern 1883 co-owner Joseph Gregory. “It’s refreshing and it’s not overly sweet or heavy, so it’s good for summer.
“All the different flavours in the sangria really pair well with food because there is so much going on between the wine base, the fresh fruit and a little bit of the liqueur Triple Sec, so there’s lots to accompany food well.”
There are probably hundreds of different regional sangria recipes, but the basic aspect for Tavern 1883 is just getting the proper ratios down between how much wine and basic ingredients you use.
“You don’t want to use too much Triple Sec because you don’t want it to overpower with the orange liqueur flavor. Then you just top it of with a little bit of ginger ale or soda, so it’s not too sweet but you get a little bit of carbonation as well,” Gregory said. “The key is not making it too sweet, people will add too much pop, you want it to have a little bitterness still in it from the tannins found in the wine.”
The Tavern’s margaritas are two ounces of Cazadores Tequila, a good quality resposado tequila, Triple Sec and a blended fresh lime which is good as opposed to an artificial product.
“Then we blend it with ice so it’s nice and mixed and then you slam the Coronita bottle into the top of it,” Gregory said. “You have to be quick and you have to remember not to pour too much of your margarita into the glass and to leave space for your beer because we’ve all overflowed them here.”
Tavern 1883 Sangria Recipe:
Fill a cocktail glass half full with ice.
Pour an equal amount of wine into the glass to cover the ice.
Add half an ounce of Triple Sec.
Top with your favourite fresh fruit and fruit juice and a splash of ginger ale/soda water
Bulldog Margarita:
Two ounces tequila.
Half ounce Triple Sec.
One fresh lime squeezed.
Three cups of ice.
Add all ingredients to a blender and blend for consistency.
Pour into a mason jar and quickly insert an inverted Coronita beer bottle.
