I like a Margarita. But additionally, I like a tall, bubbly, low-ABV crusher. And at Ridgewood, Queens’ newly opened Hellbender Nighttime Café, the place Margaritas take middle stage within the bar’s beverage program, these two ideas come collectively in the identical glass. The Margarita Soda is surprising in its simplicity, but I used to be immediately bought on it. How had I by no means considered this myself?
The bottom of the drink is a Tommy’s Margarita, the place agave syrup is swapped in for orange liqueur, bringing physique with out extra cloying sweetness. That is topped with membership soda, which opens up the earthy tequila notes and the sharp lime, providing balanced, layered complexity. The cocktail is vivid, tangy and straightforward to drink, and pairs completely with the comforting Mexican bar meals by Yara Herrera.
“You possibly can have a pair and never really feel terribly naughty,” says Tony Milici, former beverage director at Hellbender, and the drink’s creator. And he’s completely proper. I might simply get pleasure from three of those in a single go with no single remorse the following morning.
Nonetheless, whereas designing the menu, this simple mashup wasn’t an apparent alternative at first. With the group stumped whereas pondering a low-ABV highball that might match the Margarita-centric menu—like an “and Tonic” scenario—a rogue half-joke from the director of operations, Ben Howell, immediately turned the proper answer. “It’s not terribly critical; it’s simply form of what all of us wanna drink,” says Milici.
The Margarita Soda modified me: My pores and skin cleared, my blood strain normalized, I now not want remedy. A swap was flipped. The easy, but ingenious, mixture checks off every little thing I would like in a cocktail—it’s flavorful, simple to make and straightforward to drink. And it was proper in entrance of us this complete time. Could I dare say, that is the following drink of summer time? In that case, you noticed it right here first.
