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Cocktail History
The Dr. Jekyll’s Monster Margarita is a Sips From Scripts original Halloween cocktail that was created as a variation of the Black Magic Margarita first published by Delish, an online food and beverage blog. Our hope was to find a way to make their dark-hued drink without needing to use food coloring to achieve its black color, but we ended up with this orange version after some experimentation instead.
The recipe calls for a unique list of spicy and sweet ingredients, including two types of tequila, citrus, raspberry, agave syrup, and black salt. This disparate mix of flavors worked surprisingly well and reminded us of Harry Jekyll and his split personality Mr. Hyde from Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, which is where we got its name.
Cocktail Ingredients
To make this cocktail, you’ll need the following ingredients:
Tequila Añejo: This is a type of tequila made in Mexico with blue agave, sugar, and alcohol that is aged from one to three years in oak barrels. We used Camarena Añejo Tequilabecause it has a smooth taste with notes of citrus, apple, oak, baking spices, and caramel. For a mocktail version of this drink, try Ritual Zero-Proof Tequila Alternative in place of the tequila.
Ancho Chile Tequila: This is a type of tequila made by infusing ancho chile peppers in tequila blanco for a few days. For a mocktail version of this drink, try Infuse Bitters Tres Amigos Bitters in place of the tequila.
Triple Sec: This is a liqueur made with bitter oranges, lemons, sugar, and alcohol. We used Cointreau because it’s one of the highest quality orange liqueurs on the market. For a mocktail version of this drink, try Lyre’s Orange Sec Non-Alcoholic Spirit in place of the orange liqueur.
Black Raspberry Liqueur: This is a liqueur made with black raspberries, sugar, and brandy. We used Chambord Liqueur because it has rich notes of blackberries, blackcurrants, Cognac, vanilla, citrus peel, honey, and spices. For a mocktail version of this drink, try Monin Premium Wild Berry Syrup in place of the black raspberry liqueur.
Lime Juice: This is the liquid juice of a lime. We used freshly squeezed lime juice.
Agave Syrup: This is a sweetener that is made from the fluid inside agave plants. We made ours at home using Alex’s recipe.
Black Salt: This is a type of volcanic rock salt mined in countries that border the Himalayan mountains.
Bartending Tools
To make this cocktail, you’ll need the following bar tools:
Jigger: This is used to measure and pour ingredients. We used the Japanese jigger from the A Bar Above 14-Piece Silver Bar Set.
Boston Shaker: This is used to shake ingredients. We used the Boston shaker from the A Bar Above 14-Piece Silver Bar Set.
Hawthorne Strainer: This is used to strain out ice and solid ingredients after the cocktail is shaken. We used the A Bar Above Hawthorne Strainer.
Paring Knife: This is used to cut ingredients. We used the OXO Good Grips 3.5 Inch Paring Knife.
Juicer: This is used to juice citrus. We used the ALEEHAI Manual Fruit Juicer.
Tasting Notes
The Dr. Jekyll’s Monster Margarita begins with the sweet aroma of raspberry and slight ancho spice, has a taste that starts with a kick of salt and is followed by a sweet raspberry-forward taste accented with tequila and orange, and goes down with an unexpected throat-tingling heat that accompanies more raspberry and agave sweetness.
Our Opinion of This Cocktail Recipe: The dueling flavors of this drink are really where it shines as the raspberry makes the ancho almost entirely undetectable until its hits the back of your throat. We found sipping the Dr. Jekyll’s Monster Margarita to be a fun exploration of its flavors’ unsuccessful struggle to repress the others.
Which of our palates is yours most like?
Find out if your palate is most similar to Alex’s or Kendall’s by answering five questions.
Which of our palates is yours most like?
Find out if your palate is most similar to Alex’s or Kendall’s by answering five questions.
Alex’s Take: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
“This recipe ended up being a pretty far cry from its inspiration, which was essentially a Margarita dressed up with food coloring. Since we try to stay away from ingredients that serve no purpose other than decoration, we wanted to create something of a similarly thematic color using liquid ingredients, and we settled on a combination of añejo tequila, homemade ancho chile tequila, and raspberry. Honestly, the result has a pretty odd flavor but not a bad one; while it maintains great balance, the juxtaposition of bitingly spicy ancho chile next to sweet raspberry liqueur definitely plays some tricks with the palate, and no two sips are quite the same.”—
Kendall’s Take: ⭐⭐⭐
“As Alex mentioned, this drink ended being entirely different than the one we attempted to recreate. Turns out it is surprisingly difficult to create a true black drink without either food coloring or activated charcoal, neither of which are ingredients we care to use for various reasons. Even though the ingredients we ended up using after some experimenting sound a bit odd together on paper, they do work quite well. The amount of ancho chile tequila we used lended too much heat for my taste, so I’d scale back on that if we made it again. But overall, I liked this spooky variation of the classic Margarita quite a bit.”
Recipe
Pour black salt onto a plate, rub part of outer rim of glass with lime wedge, and roll in black salt until coated.
Add añejo tequila, ancho chile tequila, triple sec, black raspberry liqueur, lime juice, agave syrup, and cubed ice to a shaker.
Shake for 10-20 seconds.
Strain into black salt-rimmed glass.
Ingredients
Directions
Pour black salt onto a plate, rub part of outer rim of glass with lime wedge, and roll in black salt until coated.
Add añejo tequila, ancho chile tequila, triple sec, black raspberry liqueur, lime juice, agave syrup, and cubed ice to a shaker.
Shake for 10-20 seconds.
Strain into black salt-rimmed glass.
Make It a Mocktail: Use Ritual Zero-Proof Tequila Alternative in place of the tequila, Infuse Bitters Tres Amigos Bitters in place of the ancho chile tequila, Lyre’s Orange Sec Non-Alcoholic Spirit in place of the orange liqueur, and Monin Premium Wild Berry Syrup in place of the black raspberry liqueur to try a booze-free version of this drink.
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More Halloween Cocktails
If you like this Halloween-inspired cocktail recipe, here are a few others we’ve tried that you may enjoy:
Vampiro: A tequila cocktail made with tomato juice, orange juice, lime juice, grenadine, hot sauce, salt, black pepper, and a lime slice
Butterbeer (Harry Potter): A stout beer and spiced rum cocktail made with evaporated milk, butter, margarine, vanilla extract, brown sugar, whole cloves, whole allspice berries, cinnamon sticks, whipped cream, and nutmeg
Empress Corpse Reviver No. 2: A gin cocktail made with triple sec, Lillet Blanc, lemon juice, absinthe, and an orange twist
Tatooine Sunset (Star Wars): A tequila cocktail made with blue curaçao, pomegranate juice, grenadine, orange juice, lemon juice, and cherries
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