Tuaca

One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, ugggghhhhhhhh.

My stomach can’t handle a lot of tequila, but since today is National Margarita Day I HAD to make something! Before I get into that though, quick question: Why is National Margarita Day in the dead of winter?! It’s freezing and gray and miserable… Wait, maybe that’s why? I guess I could go for a margarita now that you mention it! Good idea!

I was inspired by the copycat Carrabba’s Blackberry Sangria I posted about earlier in the week. I used two of the ingredients (Tuaca and blackberry syrup) in my contribution to National Margarita Day.

Blackberry Margarita

1 oz tequila
1 oz simple syrup
2 oz Tuaca
juice of 1/2 small lime
splash of blackberry syrup (to taste)
salt or sugar to rim glass (optional)

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake, pour and enjoy!

A quick note to the lovely Joanne who found this bottle of simple syrup and was kind enough to purchase it for me – Thank you! I can’t tell you how many times I have been deterred from making a drink by seeing simple simple syrup in the ingredient list. I know it’s not that hard to boil sugar water but when I want a drink, I want A DRINK! I don’t want to COOK. : )

As you can see, I rimmed my glass with sugar. I know you are supposed to use salt but I couldn’t help it. It’s purple sugar and it just looks good. Besides, tequila already tastes kind of salty to me anyway so I don’t think missing the salted rim detracts from the drink.

This margarita is light on the tequila (for weaklings like myself) but definitely not lacking in flavor! The blackberry, lime and vanilla citrus flavors from the Tuaca are a perfect combination of sweet and tart.

Happy National Margarita Day everyone! Are you planning on celebrating??

Do you know what today is? Yes, it’s Monday and Presidents’ Day. It is also National Drink Wine Day! This is definitely my kind of day – I didn’t have to go to work AND I’m supposed to sit around drinking wine? Awesome!

I figured to honor this special day, I would share my experience with making a copycat version of Carrabba’s Blackberry Sangria. If you go to Carrabba’s and have not tried this yet it’s an absolute must; and if you don’t go to Carrabba’s you should. This is by far the best sangria I have ever had. So of course, I looked for the recipe online and I found it on food.com:

1 1/2 liters Bisanzio Italian wine or 1 1/2 liters any other sweet red italian wine
14 ounces cranberry juice
14 ounces Monin Blackberry Syrup
6 ounces Tuaca liqueur
blackberries

For Garnish

lemon slice
orange slice

Directions:

Mix all liquid ingredients together and add blackberries. Refrigerate and let sit for a few hours. Serve over ice. When ready to serve, add a slice of lemon and orange.

As much as I enjoy wine, I certainly would not consider myself a connoisseur. I like whites and fruity reds (especially wines from local NJ wineries) but I had no idea what would be considered a sweet red Italian wine. Luckily there are many helpful employees at my local liquor store and I was led right to what I needed (under $10 a bottle too!).

I had to order the blackberry syrup from Amazon because while the liquor store does carry Monin syrups, they seemed to have every flavor BUT blackberry. Once that arrived, I was ready to make some sangria!

I quickly realized that there was no way I was going to be able to mix two bottles of wine plus all those other liquids in my measly little pitcher so I grabbed my spaghetti pot. Even that was too small though, so I had to pull out the big guns.

Is it the sign of a problem when you are making sangria in a stockpot?

Once I had everything mixed together I transferred the sangria into two pitchers and let it sit overnight. The next evening, I had my first glass. It was delicious! It tasted ALMOST just like the Carrabba’s stuff and after letting it sit another night, and adding a little ice to my glass it tasted EXACTLY like it. Cheers to Google, for without it I would be spending way too much money at the bar at Carrabba’s to get my fix of their Blackberry Sangria!

Will you be celebrating this dual holiday with a glass of wine? What’s your favorite?