Lemon Sage Margarita
Brick Road Back Bar, Grand Rapids
I awake, supine, I surmise, seeing only a field of stars. It's cold as bones, twice as wan, snow banking all aside me like tucked bedsheets. The last thing I remember is sinking in a bright, green sea bore in a fishbowl. Now, the inebriate warmth of those tropic waters wash away by wintery waves.
Standing, I see I am in a snow-dusted parking lot behind the hideaway known as Brick Road Back Bar, located (of course) behind Brick Road Pizza Co. I stumbled inside for warmth and liquid solace. The bartender, espying my winter-weary waver, mixes for me a preparation of amendation. It is dubbed, simply, the Lemon Sage Margarita.
I sip.
And lo,
The freeze of the white winter wasteland melts away and I am standing in a rollickly rolling meadow.
This magical concoction has the bright, sharp tang of unmistakably fresh-cut lime with a back end of sage that feels like a summer meadow repose at the end of every sip. Salty yet refreshing, it can grant even the chilliest traveler the promise of sweet spring.
I believe it was Publilius Syrus who wrote “Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass as a sage. Offer him tequila and he’ll probably let go.”
But then again, I have been drinking.
THROUGH THE WHIPPING WIND OF WINTER, YOU CRY OUT FOR INSTRUCTION IN REGARD OF THIS POTABLE OF PORTALS’ MAKEUP. YOUR INQUEST FALLS NOT ON DEAF EARS:
1 ¼ oz. lemon and sage-infused Sauza Tequila
1 ¼ oz. simple syrup
1 ¼ oz. Cointreau
Salt the rim of a margarita glass or, lacking that, a small, inverted sombrero. Cut a fresh lime and exsanguinate it into the broth.
