Blackberry Margarita

Back in Cleveland, there was this taco placed called Barrio. If you’re from outside of Cleveland, you may think Barrio is mediocre. I don’t know what it is, but it’s just one of those spots that if you’re a Clevelander you are obsessed. You fill out this checklist of the ingredients you want on your taco, and can mix and match your toppings however you’d like. But in addition to yummy tacos, they also had great margaritas. Up until I had a Barrio margarita, I didn’t realize what a traditional margarita was. The only ones I’ve ever had were the frozen slushy kind at Mexican restaurants. Those definitely have their time in place, but for me they are a little too loaded with sugar.

Barrio had so many fun margarita variations, and now that I’m no longer in Cleveland I thought I’d try my own.

As if making simple syrup weren’t easy enough, it’s just as easy to incorporate a fruit to make it flavored. Blackberries will cook nicely into simple syrup. When I first tried making this cocktail, I tried using just muddled berries and skipped the added sugar. It was good, but the blackberry flavor wasn’t as strong. With this simple syrup, you’ll cook in the berries and let them sit for about 10 minutes to absorb more blackberry flavor. Then you can keep the simple syrup stored in an air-tight container in the fridge.

This blackberry margarita recipe is simple enough. Just combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. If you don’t have a cocktail shaker, just vigorously stir the ingredients in a separate glass, and use a fine mesh strainer to strain them into your cocktail glass. The reason you want to make it in a separate glass is because the ice will melt slightly when heated up by the room temperature ingredients. Removing this ice and putting it in new ice will keep your drink nice and cold and not watered down.