They say necessity is the mother of invention.
Gatorade Margaritas
Well, a while back I was hankering for a margarita but was without limes. Or even lemons. Oh, and I also did not have any ice.
Which meant I was pretty much screwed. After all, pretty much any margarita recipe calls for limes or lemons. And, um, ice.
What I did have, in addition to some tequila and triple sec — the active ingredients in any margarita — were several ice cold bottles of Pepsi’s diet sports drink, Gatorade G2. We had recently bought a case of it at the Costco and I recalled that the lime flavored one was pretty good. Figuring “How bad could it be,” I opened a bottle and took a swig to make some room. I backfilled the container with a healthy shot of tequila (1800 Reposado, if you must know, although it probably doesn’t matter much in this recipe). I didn’t bother with the triple sec.
It was surprisingly good.
It’s not as good as making it using the Official Manzine Margarita Recipe, of course. But good. And, if it’s cold enough, it’s still better than your average chain restaurant frozen margarita. It’d probably be better with a little triple sec and poured into a salted glass filled with crushed ice. But, frankly, if you’re going to go through that much trouble just make a real margarita.
Gatorade Rum Punch
Inspired by the above success, I attempted to expand on the technique using the “red” flavored G2. ( I think it’s supposed to taste like fruit punch and they come close enough for a reduced calorie sports drink. ) I took a swig (notice the precision of the measurement; that’s key here) and backfilled with some rum. (In this case, some dark rum that we’d brought back from the Bahamas. Again, I wouldn’t reach for the top shelf.)
Another success!
Again, there are doubtless better rum punch recipes out there. But few simpler, quicker ones.
The Grape Dilemma
The third flavor in the assortment pack is grape. I haven’t really liked artificially grape flavored beverages since I was a kid. I’m not sure what kind of alcohol one would pour into the grape to replicate a more complicated cocktail, as I do not drink any cocktails that are purple. If, however, you do give it a try! And let me know how it turns out.
Note: No, I did not receive any compensation for PepsiCo, Costco, or anyone else for this post. Not even any free Gatorade. If any Gatorade advertisements appear on this post, it’s a function of how the advertisements are served by a third party.
