Dirty Strawberry Rocks Rita (Original Recipe)

 

There's something about enjoying an excellent Margarita done on the cheap. Strong, flavorful and packed with citrus and salt--just what the body craves. It's easy to adjust your recipe slightly and have a very different result. Here I've substituted a different flavor for the triple sec. For this recipe, I used a homemade moonshine infused with strawberries and sweetened with sugar syrup.

That's not Mother's Moonshine, whatever that is. I used the bottle to store my own strawberry moonshine for this drink. 

• 2 oz. white tequila (Sauza 100% Blue Agave use)
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. strawberry moonshine
• 1 tsp. sugar syrup
• sea salt and lime slice for garnish.

Begin buy coating the rim of an Old Fashioned glass with sea salt. Do this by rubbing a lime slice along the rim to wet it and dipping it into a saucer of coarse sea salt. Fill a shaker with the remaining ingredients and shake. Pour into the glass and garnish with the leftover slice of lime. 

Toreador

Whatever you think about bull fighting or dessert drinks (and I tend to dislike both of them) you have to credit this recipe as being impressively crowd-pleasing. Just as the toreador must be showy and skillful, this drink presentation if fabulous and smooth.

I also appreciate how well tequila works in dessert drinks--in ways you'd never consider given its herbal flavor. Whipped cream and dark creme de cacao make it decadent and sweeten the liquor significantly. The recipe calls for cocoa powder, so rather than grating bittersweet chocolate, I used Hershey's dark powder, which is so fine that there's no noticeable solids to dissolve in your mouth, just chocolate flavor in the whipped cream. Do this drink to impress.

• 2 oz. silver tequila (Sauza blanco used)
• 1 oz. dark creme de cacao
• 1 oz. half-and-half
• whipped cream
• Cocoa powder (Hershey's dark used)

Combine tequila, creme de cacao and half-and-half in a blender with ice. Blend until smooth and pour into a chilled wine glass. Top with whipped cream and sprinkle with cocoa powder. 

Peach Margarita

More than a Margarita with peach schnapps, this variation on the classic has real peach syrup made from cooked down peach nectar. But this is a 90s recipe, so it is basically the familiar Margarita with Peachtree Schnapps. Nothing to get excited about--until you taste it.

• 2 oz. silver tequila (Sauza blanco used)
• 1/2 oz. peach liqueur
• 1 tbsp. triple sec
• 2 oz. lime juice
• 1 tsp. peach syrup (optional)
• coarse salt
• peach slice

Combine liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass rimmed with salt. Garnish with a peach slice. 

Ole

Another tequila dessert drink--it seems tequila is well suited to this kind of thing--the Ole is like a White Russian from Mexico. I used coffee liqueur made from Starbucks Pike Place for this but Kahlua is the standard coffee liqueur.

• 2 oz. silver tequila
• 1 oz. coffee liqueur
• 1 tsp sugar syrup
• 1 tbsp. half-and-half

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Silk Stockings

Silk Stockings are an old fashioned identifier of wealth or high class. They are also very smooth and soothing on your feet. This tequila cocktail is a dessert drink with chocolate and cinnamon flavors that sooth your soul. Not a tequila fan? Don't worry. You won't notice the liquor under all that cream and cacao.

• 2 oz. silver tequila
• 1 oz. white creme de cacao
• 2 oz. half-and-half
• dash grenadine
• ground cinnamon

Combine all liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Sprinkle cinnamon on top. 

Carolina

What a strange cocktail with such an incongruous name. If there is a contemporary equivalent, it would have to be the Cinnamon Toast Crunch with Rumchata and Fireball Whiskey. Without these select products available decades ago, mixologists must have come up with this drink to imitate the flavor of cinnamon toast.

• 3 oz. gold tequila
• 1 oz. half-and-half
• 1 tsp. grenadine
• 1 egg white
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• ground cinnamon 
• maraschino cherry

Combine tequila, half-and-half, grenadine, egg white and vanilla in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Sprinkle with cinnamon and garnish with the cherry.

1.  

Tequila Collins

Of course a white tequila is necessary to mimic the fizzy gin drink known as the Collins. This recipe is easier to make than the one for the gin Collins. That must be because, when it comes to tequila, no one wants to stress too much or work too hard. This cocktail is built in a glass with no shaking involved. It calls for simple syrup rather than having to dissolve sugar granules, which is easier. Furthermore, the portion of tequila is less than the gin in a Collins so it fits in my Collins glass and is not as strongly flavored.

The recipe calls for a maraschino cherry garnish. I had a lovely blood orange that needed to be part of this experience, though. Garnish however you like.

• 2 oz. white tequila
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. simple syrup
• sparkling water
• maraschino cherry

Build drink in a Collins glass with tequila, juice, and simple syrup. Add ice and top with sparkling water. Stir and garnish. 

Tequila Mockingbird

As a book nerd, I had to make this drink at some point. The thing is, I had to be in the mood for a creme de menthe cocktail--which is rare--and I had to have creme de menthe on hand--which is rarer still. The thing is, the New York Bartender's Guide has the recipe showing white creme de menthe, while the accompanying photo is clearly green. I thought, why go with white for a bland-looking tequila drink, when you can have so much color to work with. (Plus, I'm saving my peppermint schnapps for the Tequila Stinger, soon to come.)

The reason book nerds will like this drink is the name: "To Kill A Mockingbird," an excellent book and a very fun play on words with this cocktail. Make it how you like, but I will tell you that the whole ounce of lime is necessary to counter the sweetness of the creme de menthe. It also makes for a more balanced creme de menthe cocktail, whereas others tend to be overly minty. Lime cuts through it nicely and the whole experience is very fresh, and less like mouthwash than I expected.

• 2 oz. silver tequila
• 1 oz. creme de menthe (green used)
• 1 oz. lime juice

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a white wine glass. 

Sauzaliky

What a fun name for a drink! And what better tequila to use for the Sauzaliky than Sauza? I really enjoyed this cocktail more than most blended drinks I've made this year. For one thing, it was like a smoothie with a tequila kick. Fresh bananas, fresh squeezed orange juice, and a hint of lime give the drink a tropical feel, while blended ice and fruit have a silkiness (not grainy like a Frozen Margarita) that makes for non-stop sipping.

Half a banana for one drink is a lot of banana, but I appreciate how the flavor remains without the need for artificial tasting liqueurs. If you have a blender and a few fruit staples on hand, this is a great choice. Sauza gold has this rich taste that also appeared in the cocktail, despite all of the other ingredients.

• 2 oz. gold tequila
• 4 oz. orange juice
• 1 tsp. lime juice
• 1/2 banana sliced

Add all ingredients in a blender with ice and blend until smooth. Pour into a cocktail glass or wine goblet. 

Cowgirl's Prayer

Homemade lemonade makes the Cowgirl's Prayer a tangy treat. It would be enough to add lime juice and simple syrup to make it tart beyond normal, but the lemonade sweetens and adds complexity. Make your lemonade extra sweet to counteract the lime juice acidity. Make it witha an ounce of lemon juice, 3/4 ounce of simple syrup and an ounce of water (enough for one drink.) You could, of course, make a whole pitcher of lemonade. You never know when you need to make another cowgirl's prayer come true.

• 2 oz. gold tequila
• 1 oz. lime juice
• fresh lemonade
• lemon slice
• lime slice

 Build drink in a Collins glass with fresh ice. Stir and garnish with fruit. 

Changirongo

Ever done a tequila and ginger ale? It's called a Changirongo and it is pretty tasty. Tonight I was making quesadillas and looking for a low-hanging fruit cocktail that I could make without a shaker. This fit the bill really well. Build Changirongo in the glass--no shaking or squeezing fruit. This should be the back of the house drink at any Mexican restaurants.

• 2 oz. tequila
• ginger ale 
• lime slice

Build drink in a Collins glass full of ice. Stir and add lime slice garnish. 

Brave Bull

I can't believe I made this. I really can't believe I drank it. There's something gross about coffee liqueur and tequila together, but it appears over and over in Mexican themed drinks.

It did begin to grow on me though. I used my homemade coffee liqueur, which is bitter and chocolatey. The tequila was spicy and interesting, but made the coffee liqueur taste thinner. After having a Campari drink, it was nice to continue the bitter experience. The lemon twist does a lot to change the scent, like having espresso with lemon. So not a disgusting drink altogether, but one I'd only recommend to those few who can't get enough of coffee liqueur.

• 2 oz. silver tequila
• 1 oz. coffee liqueur
• lemon twist

 Build drink in an Old Fashioned glass full of ice. Stir until chilled. Garnish with twist.

Rosita

Ever felt that a Negroni is just not strong enough...not bitter enough? The Rosita is the answer. It has twice the Campari of a Negroni and a mix of vermouth. It was so interesting and huge on flavor and quantity that I sipped it for an hour. This might now be my favorite tequila drink!

• 2 oz. silver tequila
• 2 oz. Campari
• 1/2 oz. sweet vermouth
• 1/2 oz. dry vermouth
• lemon twist

Combine all ingredients except the lemon twist in a mixing glass with ice. Stir until chilled and pour into an Old Fashioned glass. Garnish with twist.

Tequila Old Fashioned

Sauza has redesigned their bottles to emphasize the rooster in their coat of arms. I think it is an inspired label with a giant cock to look at while you drink tequila. Camilla, our chicken ornament, has made an appearance to add colorful fluff for the occasion. In case you are wondering, this is nothing like the Old Fashioned with whiskey. It is solidly a gold tequila drink with bitters and cherry, and there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, it goes with the mariachi music you can hear playing on the streets in Mexico, so ask for this next time you are south of the border.

• 2 oz. gold tequila
• several dashes Angostura bitters
• cherry
• table sugar
• club soda

Combine a tablespoon of club soda, bitters, and sugar at the bottom of an Old Fashioned glass. Add ice and tequila and stir. Garnish with the cherry.