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I made a habanero infused mezcal mango margarita this weekend. Say that ten times fast! Wait, let me back up.

Some Background

Chris and I do a cocktail challenge each weekend. It started during the pandemic. We had a ton of crazy liquors in the house. Some from random drinks we’ve made over the years. Some left over from my youngest daughter’s sneaking liquor days. We decided to use all those liquors up. So, each week, we would pick a liquor, and whoever’s turn it was, had to make a cocktail using that liquor. It reduced our liquor inventory to manageable levels.

Now we do it for fun. We don’t choose a liquor. The “creator” has free reign. I use the term creator freely because often the creator tries an interesting recipe found somewhere else.

This week was my turn, and I decided to make a version of this Spicy Mango Margarita from Eating Well magazine. I say a version because while they muddle jalapeno for spice, I used Chris’s Habanero Infused Mezcal instead.

Habanero Infused Mezcal

Pepper Infused MezcalChris and I love sitting at bars. We also love chatting with bartenders. And while our eldest introduced us to the concept of infusing beers (as a one-time product manager at the Bethesda World of Beer, she loved infusing), it was a bartender at Harvest Moon who gave us the idea to infuse mezcal with peppers.

To make the infused mezcal, Chris cut up peppers with the seeds and put them into a pint mason jar until it was about ¼ full. Then he topped it off with the mezcal and let it steep for about 4 hours and strained.

This came out way too spicy. So, he diluted it by about 50%. That’s the thing, though. You can make the initial batch and then dilute it with more mezcal until it gets to the spice level you want. We then just kept it in the refrigerator.

Two things to note:

  1. You can do this with any liquor. It does not need to be mezcal. I enjoy the smokiness of mezcal, so that’s what we did. Next up is vodka, for bloody Mary.
  2. Scotch Bonnet PepperChris just informed me that they were not habanero peppers but something similar and as spicy, but he has no idea the name. He just showed me one from the freezer, and I think it may be a Scotch Bonnet. Habanero though works just as well.

Mezcal Mango Margarita

Mezcal Mango Margarita

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Prep Time 4 hours
Cook Time 10 minutes
Course Drinks
Servings 6 People

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup cold habanero infused mezcal
  • 1 cup 100% mango juice nectar
  • 1/2 cup lime juice Use fresh squeeze limes; it’s always worth the effort
  • 1/4 cup Cointreau
  • 1 T Tajin
  • 1 Lime Wedge

Instructions
 

  • Mix the mezcal, mango juice, lime juice and Cointreau in a pitcher and let sit for a few minutes. Put the tajin on a flat plate. Rub the lime wedge around the rim of 6 glasses. Dip the glasses in the Tajin. Fill the glasses with ice and top with 1/2C of the margarita mix. Easy peasy.