Drink of the Week: Dan Aykroyd

Dive right in to this margarita with a twist.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Dan Aykroyd at the Oak Room bar inside the Fairmont Palliser hotel a couple of years ago when he was in town promoting Crystal Head vodka, which I wrote about in a column for the Calgary Herald. Interestingly, Aykroyd spent part of the interview telling me all about Patron tequila (which he also promotes) and his return to the made-in-Mexico spirit even though he’d sworn it off as a teenager after a wild night in Tijuana.

So I suppose it’s fitting that the Oak Room has named one of its tequila cocktails after the Canadian actor and comedian. The Dan Aykroyd is like a margarita, but with orange juice in addition to lime juice. This both sweetens the drink and softens the lime’s tartness. It’s very smooth. Add in a sugar-cinnamon rim in place of a salty one and you’ve got a very approachable cocktail. Incidentally, Aykroyd was very pleased when he learned the bar had named a drink after him.

It’s like a margarita with orange juice. I like it.

Dan Aykroyd

• 1 oz Patron Silver
• 1/2 oz Cointreau
• 1 oz fresh lime juice
• 1 oz fresh orange juice
• Sugar/cinnamon mix to rim glass

Rim a martini glass with a sugar/cinnamon mixture, then fill the glass with ice. In a cocktail shaker combine the tequila, Cointreau, lime juice and orange juice and shake. Strain into the martini glass and garnish with an orange slice.

— Recipe courtesy Patrick Appave, bartender, Oak Room at the Fairmont Palliser