Margarita Monday: Sassy Ann's; a Fanatical Recycling Endorsement

No matter where ya live, there is always some place that claims they make "the best Margarita in town." I am of the opinion that this claim is usually falsified. It is an attempt to sell a Margarita or multiple Margaritas. The claim should usually read, "we sell a lot of Margaritas" to our regular clientele when they need a break from drinking Bud Light. Personally, I pull no punches in regard to Margaritas, I could probably make the best Margarita in town and I can tell you where to get the best Margarita in Knoxville.

But this post isn't about the best Margarita in town, it is about "the claim." Any hole-in-the-wall can make the claim, fortunately, with the help of my lovely assistant Sally, we have found a hole-in-the-wall that can actually backup "the claim." We have an old bar in Knoxville named Sassy Ann's which I've heard of since I moved in to town and finally visited for the first time last month.

Sally had visited Sassy Ann's a few years ago, before I moved to Knoxville, but we had not been there together. As we were out this past Saturday celebrating her birthday we chose to include a visit to Sassy Ann's in the festivities. Sassy Ann's makes the Margarita claim and we wanted to submit them to our Margarita snob test.

First, I would like to point out what makes Sassy Ann's unique. I can find very little about the history of Sassy Ann's on the entree-net but I would guess that it has been opened nearly 15 years, if not longer. So, this doesn't make it an old, established business but it is in a Victorian era house which is, understandably impressive.

Sassy Ann's is not elaborately decorated by an means, nearly every surface is covered with the simplicity of wood-grain. I can't imagine that anyone would ever describe the interior of Sassy Ann's as "nice." I can't imagine that anyone would describe the exterior as nice either but every bar tends to be run down. Bars always have dust in the corners, there's always a leaky pipe somewhere and some loose or broken ceiling tiles. This is part of the appeal of bars, that they have the "lived in" look, and what better place to feel like home than an old home. Sassy Ann's has character and a welcoming atmosphere. Even before I ever visited the place I knew, from my many friends who had told me of Sassy Ann's, that it would be a relaxed, friendly and enjoyable watering hole, greatly worth visiting...

And they don't make a bad Margarita either. The Margaritas at Sassy Ann's come in a pint glass. I didn't watch the bartender make our first round of drinks and my first impression was that it was sour. But it was a good sour, fruit juice sour not sweet n sour mix sour. Sweet n Sour mix is a sure road to a bad Margarita, it's so easy to attempt to make Margaritas with the mix and no fruit juice. If you don't have, at least, lemon juice in a Margarita you're not doing it right. These Margaritas had a good sweet and sour taste combination from fruit juice which earns Sassy Ann's the right to "the claim." Then I watched the bartender as he made Margaritas and learned that they use no Sweet n Sour mix but use orange juice as the base.

The Margarita blend at Sassy Ann's is very simple. A simple blend that earns them right to the claim, one of the, Best Margaritas in Knoxville. If your ever in Knoxville be sure to visit Sassy Ann's. In fact, contact me and I'll be glad to introduce you personally. If you're a Knoxville resident and have never been to Sassy Ann's, you need to put it on your "Things to do in 2012" list.

Margarita Monday, or not?

The FRI staff had our usual round of Margaritas this weekend. In fact, we had Margaritas last Tuesday, before our weekly rpg, when we went to dine at Senior Taco. There was nothing fancy to our Margaritas this weekend so I will not discuss the mix, I believe we used Jose Cuervo Martarita Mix and the Margaritaville Lime Tequila.

As will become evident with further posts, I'm a sucker for snazzy pack ageing and new ideas so, I just had to try the Smirnoff Blueberry Lemonade.

I know the idea of this drink creates images of wine coolers and the idea is justified. It's been years since I've had one of these, frou-frou, bottled drinks but the idea of mixing blueberry and lemonade intrigued me and the drink wasn't bad. This isn't to say I'm ever going to buy a pack of them but it really wasn't bad as an experiment. These drinks are marketed as malt beverages rather than wine coolers. As I understand they are made from malted corn and rice (the adjunct liquors of light beers.) This creates a whole new category for these former wine coolers, now they fall into the near beer category along with the MGD 64 I just had to try a few months ago.

My honest opinion of the Smirnoff Blueberry Lemonade is that it is not a bad drink. It tastes mainly like lemonade with just a hint of blueberry in each sip. I like blueberries but I wouldn't have thought of putting them in lemonade. If you don't like blueberries but you do like lemonade, don't shy away from this drink, the blueberry flavor adds just a bit of sweetness to the sour lemonade flavors. The drink could even be used in a Margarita mix and I'm likely to give it a try some time, maybe with more blueberries? Nah, I know that no one else would like a Blueberry Margarita.

A second product, that I noticed while in Colorado, is Frida Kahlo Tequila. I had never heard of this product and was intrigued by the image of Frida Kahlo on tequila packaging. This combination is culturally appropriate, in my opinion, but since I'm not Latin American I really don't get a vote. A brief internet search indicates that this tequila markets for $36 to $75 dollars and had, of course, created some protest associated with using Frida's image for marketing. I don't want to get involved in the politics of this issue. I'm just presenting the product to say, "Look at this." If you like modern art and you like adult beverages, here it is.

Margarita Monday: 2010 Vacation

My lovely assistant, Sally Bally Whoa Wally, and I just returned from our vacation to Colorado. We went on the B&B tour. No, not Bed & Breakfast, we went on the brewery and book store tour. (Which is a story for another time.) We dined at Juanita's in Boulder twice and enjoyed the food and the Margaritas each time. I have the mysterious ability to make food, and Margaritas, disappear. While I remember that the food at Juanita's was very good, I don't remember the details because I ate entirely too fast. I did have the Chile Relleno which was suggested by our friend, and current Colorado resident, Scott. I'm a sucker for good Chile Relleno but I've really got to eat slower and enjoy my food. The half liter of Margaritas was $17.50 and was much more economical than paying $7.50 for each drink.

Here we are over looking Boulder.

Down in Denver we got to eat at Jack n Grill and of course we had a jumbo Margarita too. I'd seen the features on Jack n Grill on the Travel Channel and wanted to be sure to eat there while we were staying in Denver. I'm pretty sure I had the veggie burrito and devoured it.

The Margaritas at both of these restaurants where good but not as good as our favorite Latin American restaurant in Knoxville, Chez Guevara, which translates; House of Guevara. Chez G has the best Margaritas, they are so good I’ve considered asking them for their recipe. I know they use fresh oranges because they are always slicing them at the bar. Perhaps we’ll get to visit Chez G this weekend and provide a report for the next Margarita Monday.

Margarita Monday; on Tuesday

Last week, my acquaintance, gnotions, pointed out the traditional Margarita ingredients for what I would call a “Top Shelf Margarita.” My wife will not allow me to use cheap tequila so they’ll be no problem in that area. We don’t drink that much either. We each had two drinks from the batch yesterday, well, it was Monday of course.

We generally use the Margaritaville Island Lime tequila. Sally recently bought 30 – 30 brand Reposado which we enjoyed. I bought Two Fingers brand tequila once but Sally wasn’t fond of that brand. Baring the availability of any other brands we would probably use Jose Cuervo. For orange liquor I occasionally use Grand Marnier but use Triple-Sec most of the time.

Yesterday I attempted to recreate the blue Margarita. I made a small batch of traditional Margaritas, preped the Margarita glass with salt and ice then filled 1/3 of the glass with Mnt. Dew Voltage. Now the trick is to attempt to keep the drink blue but get it to taste like a Margarita, rather than tasting sweet like the Mnt. Dew. I settled for flavor over color and Sally thought I had used the green Mnt. Dew.


If I'm determined to make a blue Margarita I'm gonna have to try a different combination of ingredients. We'll be in Colorado next week so I'll bring back some tales of Rocky Mnt. Margaritas.

Margarita Monday

Back in 2008 I decided that I wanted to learn how to make Margaritas and I’ve discovered that it is actually a simple process. I was in search of the proper ingredients for making Margaritas, in search of a superior Margarita to the buckets and bag mixes that are so popular during the summer months. To top this all off, we found an Icee machine which shaves ice at Target for less than twenty bucks and we’re on the way to Margarita Lane! Once I had the basic Margarita mastered I wanted to make a blue Margarita. How do ya do that you ask? Just add blue Mnt. Dew to lemon juice and Margarita mix, they tend to be a little sweet or sour so that combination wasn’t a complete success.

This year Mnt. Dew has introduced a lime intensive style and today I used it in a new Margarita recipe. This new Mnt. Dew flavor is called Distortion and here’s the combination of ingredients I used;

12 oz. Mnt. Dew Distortion
8 oz. Lime Gatorade
4 oz. Tequlia
2 oz. Lemon Juice

Mix all ingredients, shake and/ or stir. Serve over ice or shaved ice in appropriate stemware, salt and lime slices are optional. Enjoy and don’t sing too loud…!

Oh yeah, this made about 4 servings of drinks.