The Margarita is undeniably some of the in style cocktails within the U.S. With an simply modified recipe, the drink has a near-endless variety of variations that provide distinctive taste profiles, introduce a completely different spirit, and even deliver beer into the equation. But when there’s one model of the traditional that continues to enrapture the American ingesting public, it’s the Skinny Margarita.
Popularized by former actuality star Bethenny Frankel — who later went on to begin the Skinnygirl model — the Skinny Margarita hit the cultural zeitgeist within the late 2000s and has been holding drinkers captive ever since. However regardless of its ubiquity, nobody can appear to agree on what substances really go into the cocktail, which presents a specific problem on your bartender and might doubtlessly end in you ending up with a drink that isn’t precisely what you wished. So what do you have to order as a substitute?
To clear up the Skinny Margarita confusion, VinePair tapped Janice Bailon, head bartender at Brooklyn’s Latin spirits-focused cocktail bar Leyenda.
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“Within the late 2000s, we noticed this large shift into ‘skinny tradition’ drinks-wise, and the advertising of this tradition has been extremely problematic,” Bailon explains. “Primarily, it simply meant no sugar added, so actually, the Skinny Margarita ought to be only a traditional Margarita made with tequila, lime, and Cointreau. However for lots of people, it will probably imply a number of issues.”
At Leyenda, Bailon is usually requested to make no less than two Skinny Margaritas per day, although on weekends, that quantity can get all the way in which as much as 10. And as a rule, the one factor comparable in regards to the orders is that the visitors requesting them don’t actually know what they need of their drink. “I’ve had individuals ask me for them considering they’re made with tequila, membership soda, and lime juice,” she says. “Others ask for a Margarita however no triple sec or Cointreau. To that, I normally say, ‘So that you need tequila and lime juice?’ They usually’re at all times like no, I need a Margarita.”
As she factors out, an individual’s geographic location has quite a bit to do with informing their concept of a Skinny Margarita. Initially from San Francisco, Bailon notices that when she’s bartending on the West Coast, customers asking for the “skinny” model are literally in search of a Tommy’s Margarita, a riff made with tequila, lime juice, and agave nectar. In New York, visitors are most frequently trying to take pleasure in a standard Margarita — they only may not perceive that the unique recipe doesn’t name for added sugar.
Even Frankel, an unique solid member of “The Actual Housewives of New York Metropolis” and the self-titled “creator” of the Skinny Margarita, orders hers with Patrón, Cointreau, and lime juice. The mixture is in any other case generally known as… a Margarita.
“I believe when individuals ask for a Skinny Margarita, it’s doing one in every of two issues,” Bailon argues. “It’s giving them extra acidity, sometimes as a result of there’s much less sugar to steadiness out the precise cocktail. Or, it’s subliminally making them really feel higher about what they’re ordering. By merely saying ‘Skinny Margarita,’ you’re already like, ‘Properly, in my mind and my consciousness, that is higher for me.’”
Whereas there’s nothing inherently incorrect with ordering a Margarita the “Skinny” means, the cocktail is just too convoluted on your bartender to really know what you’re trying to take pleasure in. As such, in case you’re available in the market for a Margarita merely made with no added sugar, merely order a traditional Margarita and be happy to ask whether or not or not the bar provides easy syrup to the construct. If their reply is sure, ask them to ditch the sweetener when shaking up yours. Should you’re as a substitute trying to take pleasure in a Marg made with out triple sec, a Tommy’s is perhaps higher for you.
“The true subject with the Skinny Margarita is simply that nobody is aware of what it’s. Should you ask one individual, the individual sitting subsequent to them may have a special reply as a result of we’re all people,” Bailon explains. “It’s simply on us as hospitality veterans to be like, ‘I see you, I really feel you, I perceive the place you’re coming from. Let me get you what you really need.’”
