Name: Celtic Margarita
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 45 ml Scotch whisky; 22.5 ml Triple sec; 22.5 ml Lemon juice; 7.5 ml Sugar syrup (2:1); 4 drop Margarita Bitters

Celtic Margarita
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Glass:

Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
1 ¹⁄₂ oz	Blended Scotch whisky
³⁄₄ oz	Cointreau triple sec liqueur
³⁄₄ oz	Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₄ oz	Sugar syrup 'rich' (2 sugar to 1 water, 65.0°Brix)
4 drop	Difford's Margarita Bitters optional

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Prepare:

Select and pre-chill a COUPE GLASS.
RIM glass with salt (moisten outside edge with lime or orange juice and dip into salt).
Prepare garnish of lemon wedge.

How to make:

SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish:

Garnish with lemon wedge.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

A Scotch whisky-based Margarita - try it, it works.

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Variant:

Capercaillie
Prosperity
Silent Third
Auld Alliance

History:

Adapted from a recipe discovered in 2004 at Milk & Honey, London, England.

Nutrition:

One serving of Celtic Margarita contains 179 calories

Alcohol content:

1.4 standard drinks
20.37% alc./vol. (40.73° proof)
19.9 grams of pure alcohol

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Showing 9 comments for Celtic Margarita.
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Yossi Burg

4th November 2024 at 09:54

Righto- 5ml rich syrup- and Compass Box Glasgow Blend a winner. The peatyness and lemon work well with the dryness of triple sec. CB Glasgow Blend is my favourite blend mixer. Hats off to John Glaser and co.

Yossi Burg

7th January 2024 at 12:27

I tried it...it worked. Like Chris I had a bottle of JW Black Label open (a great mixer with just about everything) and it was good. Didn't salt the rim but added 3-4 drops of saline solution- next time I'll drop the syrup down to 0-5ml as our lemons are quite sweet.

Sean Anderson

23rd December 2023 at 22:17

I made this with Dewar's White Label and it was so-so — might be great with a less oaky whisky

John Hinojos

27th February 2023 at 01:09

Excellent. Sort of a Margarita with a hint of smoky. Not being a fan of Mezcal, this cocktail gives you a nice alternative. Living close to the Mexico boarder I have had a lot of margaritas, this version is a real winner.

Chris Lamb

26th May 2022 at 09:42

Made this with Johnnie Walker Black last night; worked pretty well. Has anyone tried it with a more opinionated scotch? Would be interested in how much the profile of the spirit remains.

Grant Lednor

26th February 2024 at 03:54

We made it with a Speyside single malt (Glenfiddich Perpetual Collection Vat 01) and while that probably isn't the most opinionated scotch it's certainly different to a blended. In terms of profile the nose was still very much single malt whisky, but the taste and flavour in combination with the other ingredients was very similar to a Reposado. I would certainly make it again.

Geoff B.

27th January 2021 at 05:34

Definitely works as noted! Salt rim is nice too. I’ll come back and over this when I want a scotch based cocktail.

David M.

27th January 2021 at 05:32

Unusual! I used a 1960s bottle of J&B and this definitely highlighted the bit of peat it has. The salt definitely gives it the “margarita” experience.

Nik Hunnicutt

7th December 2020 at 01:09

Very nicely balanced. The scotch, and lemon juice is still there, but subtle. A perfect example of the sum of the parts delivering something new.

mini prasad

6th June 2020 at 08:09

Nicer than I expected! Seems like a lot of lemon juice but it’s just right!

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