Serrano Hibiscus Rita
- 2 oz serrano-infused tequila
- 1 oz hibiscus syrup
- 1 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. No garnish.
We discovered this wonderful drink in Three's Bar & Grill, Maui, Hawaii; highly recommended if you are ever in Kihei. It is a simple sour based on the Margarita with the orange liqueur replaced by hibiscus syrup. And one other modification—serano-infused tequila with a mighty kick. The barman was gracious to tell us how he made the drink. He suggested we muddle sliced serrano chile peppers in hibiscus syrup but when we tried this we discovered it only had a mild kick. So we explored serrano-infused tequila.
We give a recipe for serano-infused tequila below. For a mild hint of chile that will not offend (almost) anyone, remove the seeds from the chile before making the infusion. To get closer to the drink served in Three's Bar & Grill, include the seeds when making the infusion. Test the infused tequila before making the drink and dilute to taste by adding uninfused tequila.
It takes a little effort to make the syrup and infuse the tequila but the result is unusual and definitely worthwhile.
Serrano-Infused Tequila
Remove the stem from the serrano pepper. For every 3 oz of blanco 100% agave tequila (we use Herradura) you need one quarter of a serrano pepper sliced lengthwise with the seeds left in. Cut the quarters in half and add, seeds included, to the tequila in a sealable glass container. Steep for 24 hours shaking occasionally. Strain out the chiles and seeds and return the infusion to the glass container. (For a milder infusion do not include the seeds.)
This recipe was adapted from Every Cocktail Has A Twist. (They use two whole serrano chiles and an entire 750 ml bottle of tequila.)
Hibiscus Syrup
We adapted this recipe from Death & Co: Modern Classic Cocktails. It will yield 3 oz of syrup, enough for two drinks with a little to spare.
- In a saucepan bring 4 oz of water to a boil,
- Remove from the heat and stir in 1 oz (by weight) of dried hibiscus flowers,
- Cover and let stand for 20 mins,
- Strain through a cheesecloth-lined sieve pushing to extract all the juice and return to the saucepan,
- Add an equal volume of superfine sugar (2 oz in our case),
- Cook over a low heat, stirring constantly until all of the sugar is disolved (do not boil),
- Steralize a glass bottle with boiling water (to extend the shelf life of the syrup) and add the resulting syrup,
- Store in the the refrigerator. The syrup will thicken (considerably) as it chills.