THE SUNDOWN for Hooks Rub Thirsty Thursday

THE SUNDOWN for Hooks Rub Thirsty Thursday ft. Patron, Luxardo, Grand Marnier, Finest Call & Eggland’s Best eggs!

**RECIPE can be cocktail or mocktail**

This cocktail is inspired by watching breath-taking sunsets. Have you ever sat, cocktail in hand and watched a sunset between distant partly clouded mountains, beyond the ocean or down your street? As you watch the sun slowly sink into the horizon beyond the fluffy clouds, the sky changes color minute to minute. There is a beauty to this change of the guard from day to night.

“The Sundown” takes you on the journey from day to night. The Maraschino cherry sliding down the glass is the darkening sun. The egg white is the clouds. You can smell the floral notes of the hibiscus leaves through the cloudy puffs of white as you sip. The Patron, Grand Marnier and lime juice shaken and swirled with the mango puree layers over and around the ice balls takes you from day to night with all the hues and scents to stoke your senses.

Recipe (can be non-alcoholic by omitting tequila and orange liqueur):
Ingredients:
-Patron Silver Tequila
-Grand Marnier Orange Liqueur
-Luxardo Cherries
-Mango Purée (Finest Call is the finest out there)
-Egg white
-Dried Hibiscus Flowers & hibiscus tea
-Ice

Method:

Gather all ingredients along with two cocktail shakers, a jigger, bar spoon, sharp knife, mesh strainer and bar strainer. On the outside of a 10 oz. highball glass, slide a lime wedge stripe from the middle up. Set lime aside. Then finely crush some dry hibiscus leaves (you can us a mortar and pestle) and sprinkle on the lime juice strip. If you get some of the hibiscus leaf powder in the glass, you can leave them or remove them with the bar spoon. Set the glass aside.

In a cocktail shaker add 2 oz. Patron Silver Tequila, 3/4 oz. Grand Mariner Orange Liquor, squeeze of 2x lime wedges and the spent limes and 1/2 cup of hibiscus tea made from steeping dry hibiscus leaves in water and discarding the leaves. Add in half a shaker of ice cubes. Shake vigorously for 20-30 seconds and set aside. In a separate cocktail shaker crack and add 1 egg white, discarding the yolk. Shake the egg white vigorously for about 30 seconds. Then add the spring from a bar strainer and a few ice cubes or just ice cubes then shake an additional 30-60 seconds to get the frothy, puffy egg consistency in the egg. Set aside.

Add 3-4 ice balls to the highball glass. Using a cocktail strainer, strain the tequila, orange liquor and lime/tea mixture into the glass, making sure to hold the spent limes and ice in the shaker. Pour 2-4 oz. of Mango puree down the inner wall of the glass (leaving at least a 1 inch wash line) and swirl 3-4 times with the bar spoon. Then holding the mesh strainer over the cocktail, strain the shaken egg whites into the top of the glass and scoop out extra froth to top it off with the bar spoon to make your cloud. Take more crushed hibiscus leaves and sprinkle in a trail on top. Using the knife, slice a small incision on the bottom of the cherry and garnish the edge of the rim at the end of the leaf trail. 

Instruct the recipient to remove the cherry and slide it down the inner wall of the drink behind the outer leaf trail and as they drink the "sun" will slowly go down. Serve with or without a straw. Enjoy responsibly.

We entered this drink in the Patron Perfectionists contest. We didn’t advance this year, but we’re thankful for the opportunity. We’ll be back strong next year!