Pomegranate Hibiscus Margarita

With our bar menu, we have tried to keep it in the same world as our dinner menu, using culinary combinations and seasonal produce as our inspiration. Most restaurants these days are adopting this approach to their cocktail menus and are the better for it, we think.
For this margarita, there are a few steps but they make all the difference for the flavor. We begin by infusing our tequila with thyme and by making a thyme syrup to lightly sweeten the cocktail and round out the herbal undertones. Also, we infuse some pomegranate juice with hibiscus tea to brighten the drink.

For the thyme syrup:
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup raw sugar
1 bunch thyme
Heat the water, thyme and sugar until it comes to a boil and the sugar dissolves.
Allow to sit and steep until mixture is completely cool. Strain and refrigerate.

For the hibiscus infused pomegranate juice:
1 cup pomegranate juice
1 bag of hibiscus tea
Gently heat the pomegranate juice to a simmer and add the tea bag. Turn off the heat and allow the mixture to steep until completely cool.

Now, for the thyme infused tequila, we simply stick a bunch of organic, fresh thyme into a tequila bottle and allow it to infuse for a few weeks. If you don’t want to sacrifice a whole bottle of tequila for this project you can put a cup or two of tequila in a jar with the fresh thyme and infuse it that way. The longer it sits with the herbs, the more intense the thyme flavor will be. Also, it’s a good idea to strain it before using.

To make the margarita:
1 ounce hibiscus infused pomegranate juice
3/4 ounce triple sec
3/4 ounce thyme syrup
1 1/2 ounces thyme infused tequila
juice of 1 lime

Rim a rocks glass with sea salt (we used black volcanic salt) and fill with ice. In a shaker, mix all the margarita ingredients and shake well. Pour into the rocks glass and serve immediately.