It used to be that tequila was restricted to a few well-known cocktails. Now, the Mexican spirit is folded into all types of cocktail recipes, and it’s also been reimagined as a spirit.
“In the past it was margaritas or palomas,” says Hakon Bream, bar manager at Ox + Anchor inside Hotel San Luis Obispo in San Luis Obispo, California. “Now people are looking for newer cocktails [with tequila].”
Bream tinkered with tequila until he hit on a cocktail that fits into Ox +Anchor's tightly curated theme. “Cocktails are themed after the Nine Sisters, a chain of volcanic mountains between San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay,” says Bream. “The hotel is between the eighth and the ninth one.”
Photo: Ryan Gobuty
When blended together, Nosotros Reposado tequila, espresso, Cutler’s Artisan Spirits’ cold-brew liqueur (from a four-generation distillery in Santa Barbara) and Liber & Co. orgeat form Hollister Peak, his riff on an espresso martini. Only instead of vodka, he swapped in tequila. And with its almond infusion, orgeat syrup adds a Bailey’s-like flavor. Sugar and ground espresso rim the glass.
“The bitterness of the espresso and sweetness of orgeat create a perfectly balanced new-age tequila cocktail,” says Bream. “The honey, cinnamon, and butterscotch notes of the reposado play brilliantly with the rich cacao and brown sugar flavors of the espresso and cold brew liqueur.”
For Tito Pin Perez, creative director at Rayo Cocktail Bar in Mexico City, leaning on tequila is another way to honor the country’s spirits. About 400 bottles of niche Mexican spirits line the shelves. “We tell stories using these spirits,” he says. “People have told us, ‘I really feel like I got to travel and get to know Mexico just by sitting here.'”
Zamora Spritz is a drink Perez developed highlighting not only Cazadores Tequila, but also Mexican strawberries and a state in Mexico. “It’s inspired by Zamora, in the state of Michoacán, that exports the highest amount of strawberries throughout Mexico and Latin America,” says Perez. The region’s most popular dessert: strawberries and cream. Leftovers from strawberry syrup are macerated with Campari, then liquefied and placed in a mold with crema and frozen. Once removed from the mold, it’s dipped into white chocolate that's been colored red and presented as a garnish.
Additional inspiration for new twists on a tequila drink come from agave in Jalisco, where the majority of tequila is produced. A true tequila must contain at least 51 percent blue agave and be made in one of five Mexican states: Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacan, Nayarit, or Tamaulipas.
These direct connections to the land mesh with the philosophy of Perez's bar. “We have friends in Jalisco, and whenever they make a batch of tequila, they send us agave hearts,” he says. The agave is chopped into small pieces and cooked down for 10 hours with pineapple, sugar and cinnamon to make agave syrup. When used in a cocktail, such as the bar’s Pepe El Toro, “it has really intense, smoky agave notes,” says Perez.
Another way Perez plays around with agave is aromas. Mixing agave with fruity notes is a compelling combination. He’s also developed a very textural cocktail vessel: a glass coated in agave wax. “Desert cowboys have a lot of extreme cold nights,” says Perez, “so they coat themselves with agave at night.”
Similar to Perez, it was a longing to teach customers about Mexico that led to a tequila drink called El Cantinero, served at Little Rascal, a restaurant and bar in Brooklyn, N.Y. “The first time I went to Guadalajara to do a pop-up,” recalls beverage director Keith Larry, “I went to see many of the distilleries I work with.” En route was a well-known roadside bar called Cantaritos El Guero where a signature cocktail is made in front of visitors, “a riff on a paloma,” says Larry. He gave the Brooklyn version its own twist, using Tromba Blanco and a recipe for grapefruit cordial along with fresh lime, habanero shrub and a dash of ghost pepper tincture. “I wanted it to have herbaceous notes so we smoke the rosemary (for garnish),” says Larry, along with grated pink peppercorn.
The drink also boosts Little Rascal’s bottom line. “People just get one and then another, instead of looking at the menu and making a change,” says Larry.
Another tequila drink Larry likes to make and serve is an Oaxacan Old Fashioned. He also substitutes tequila for gin in a Negroni.
“Tequila’s making its way into the cocktail world some more,” says Larry, “and tequila is projected to keep growing.”
The customer’s perception of tequila is changing, which is good news for mixologists eager to roll out creative drinks. “People are a lot more educated and demanding about what is in [their] drink,” says Perez. He also credits tequila producers with flattening the learning curve, teaching consumers “what it takes to be a good tequila [producer] … and what to look out for when tasting tequila,” he says. “It pushes you to have better-quality spirits behind the bar.”
Cocktail Recipes
Little Rascal’s El Cantinero
2 oz Tromba Blanco or Pierde Almas Mezcal
1 oz Grapefruit Cordial*
.75 oz Fresh Lime
Dash of ghost pepper tincture
Garnish: Grated pink peppercorn, charred rosemary
Glassware: Rocks glass
Directions:
Add all ingredients to a shaker tin and shake. Serve on ice with grated pink peppercorn and charred rosemary.
Grapefruit Cordial
10 oz Grapefruit juice
10 oz Sugar
3 oz Lime
3 oz Aperol
One tablespoon white peppercorn, lightly ground
20-30 scrapes of star anise on a microplane
Directions:
Add all ingredients into a saucepan, then lightly stir the mixture over medium heat until simmering and all sugar is dissolved. Allow the mixture to cool, then store in an airtight container.
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