Best Tequila Cocktails – Cobra Clutch

There was a time, not too long ago, when the everyday bar patron viewed mezcal’s flavor as a bit too assertive.

Bartenders still found ways to incorporate the smoky agave spirit into drinks by using a little less mezcal and supplementing it with tequila, a method known as “splitting the base.”

Lots of cocktails split the base to create new and interesting flavor combinations in a drink.

Such was the case with the Cobra Clutch, an agave cocktail with pineapple and lime that combined mezcal and tequila.

Although mezcal has been embraced by the drinking public much more since the Cobra Clutch was invented more than a decade ago, this cocktail isn’t improved by getting rid of the tequila in favor of its smokier cousin.

In fact, the Cobra Clutch is a shining example of how and when to split the base in your cocktail to achieve a flavor you couldn’t get from just picking one spirit or another.

• 1.5 oz. tequila
• 0.5 oz. mezcal
• 0.5 oz. lime juice
• 0.5 oz. demerara or cane syrup
• 1 oz. pineapple juice
• Rinse absinthe

And all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with crushed ice.

Briefly shake to incorporate the ingredients, then pour into a large rocks glass.

Top with more crushed ice, and garnish with a mint sprig.

Best Tequila Cocktails – Rosita

Most tequila recipes are bright and refreshing, leaning on the spirit’s inherent affinity for sunshine.

The Rosita is the other kind. It’s a world away for Margaritas, another affair entirely—a cocktail bitter and sweet, darker and more complex.

It was modernized and popularized (twice!) by none other than early cocktail revivalist and notorious eccentric Gary “gaz” Regan.

• 1.5 oz. reposado tequila
• 0.5 oz. Campari
• 0.5 oz. sweet vermouth
• 0.5 oz. dry vermouth
• 1 dash Angostura Bitters

Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with ice. Stir for five to 10 seconds (if using very small ice) to 25 to 30 seconds (if using very large ice), strain either into a rocks glass over fresh ice or up, in a coupe, depending on your preference.

Garnish with a grapefruit peel.

Best Tequila Cocktails – North Beach Cooler

The outstanding women’s cocktail competition Speed Rack has been going for well over a decade, showcasing the talents of the world’s best female bartenders.

Founders Ivy Mix and Lynette Marrero have created a book as well called A Quick Drink featuring those same stellar barkeeps.

For seasonality, ease of creation, and honestly for sheer deliciousness, the North Beach Cooler, from Melbourne bartender Priscilla Leong, made of tequila, lime, Campari, dry vermouth, and soda is a winner.

It’s a cross between a Siesta and a Rome with a View, leveraging tequila’s affection for Campari and Campari’s affection for dry vermouth into a devastatingly tasty little thrupple. 

• 0.75 oz. blanco tequila 
• 0.75 oz. dry vermouth 
• 0.5 oz. Campari 
• 0.75 oz. lime juice 
• 0.5 oz. simple syrup
• 2 oz. soda water 

Add all ingredients except for soda to a cocktail shaker with ice, shake good and hard for six to eight seconds, and garnish with a basil leaf and/or a lime wedge.

Best Tequila Cocktails – Margarita

There is no better or more convincing a liquid cheerleader for tequila than a well-made Margarita.

Those who’ve had one already agree.

Those who haven’t—those for whom all they know is some $13 bottle of tequila mixed with day-glo “Margarita Mix,” with respect, you’ve not had a Margarita, you’ve had citric acid and sodium benzoate and high-fructose corn syrup cosplaying as a Margarita.

A proper Margarita is exuberance in a glass, “the spirit of unfussy joie de vie,” we write, “that acknowledges the potential for fun in any situation.”

The classic version is below, or learn how to make the extremely popular Tommy’s Margarita.

• 2 oz. tequila
• 1  oz. lime juice
• 0.5 oz. Cointreau
• 0.25 oz. – 0.5 oz. agave syrup (to taste)

For both: Add ingredients to shaking tin, or blender, with lots of ice.

Shake, or blend, until ice cold.

Pour into a glass, garnish with a bright slice of lime, and indulge.

Best Tequila Cocktails – White Toreador

The Toreador cocktail is tequila, apricot liqueur, and lime juice, and is among the first tequila cocktails ever printed in the English language, in William J. Tarling’s Cafe Royal Cocktail Book, in 1937.

It’s essentially a Margarita with apricot instead of orange, and it’s justifiably overshadowed by its orangey sister because the apricot speaks a little too loudly in a classic Toreador—the boldness of the fruit too brash on the midpalate.

But one of the best bars in the world, Jigger & Pony in Singapore, correctly saw that a little yogurt could solve that problem perfectly.

• 1.5 oz. blanco tequila
• 0.5 oz. lime juice
• 0.5 oz. apricot liqueur
• 0.5 oz. simple syrup
• 1 egg white
• 1 tsp full fat greek yogurt

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker and shake briefly without ice to whip the egg.

Add ice and shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds. Strain up into a cocktail glass.

No garnish.

Best Tequila Cocktails – Paloma

The Paloma—a simple drink of tequila, lime juice, grapefruit soda, and a pinch of salt is a great tequila drink.

Palomas are sweet and tart and bright and preternaturally refreshing, a worthy match for the pitiless heat of the Mexican summer, and deployed in great numbers whenever a little reprieve is in order.

The classic version is below, or but there is also a freshly squeezed Paloma you can make.

• 2 oz. blanco tequila
• 0.5 oz. lime juice
• 4 to 5 oz. grapefruit soda

Add ice to a tall glass.

Add tequila and lime and top with grapefruit soda.

Mix the ingredients around with a straw (or, as they do at La Capilla de Don Javier in the town of Tequila, with a large knife), sprinkle a pinch of salt on top, and garnish with a lime wedge or, honestly, nothing at all.

Best Tequila Cocktails – El Diablo

With a name like El Diablo (“the Devil” in Spanish) you might not expect a fruity and charming tequila sipper, but since “Trader” Vic Bergeron invented it in 1946, the El Diablo has been enchanting drinkers with its tart berries and gentle spice.

It’s a simple tequila version of a Moscow Mule, essentially, with a bit of the fruit liqueur creme de cassis making it juicy and the oaky richness of the aged tequila making it plush.

• 2 oz. reposado tequila
• 0.5 oz.–0.75 oz. lime juice, to taste
• 0.5 oz. creme de cassis
• 3-4 oz. ginger beer, to taste

Combine all ingredients over ice in a tall glass.

Stir briefly to combine and garnish with a couple blackberries on a pick, or a lime wedge, or both.

Best Tequila Cocktails – Hot Lips

WThere are rules in cocktails—Good ones.

Anyone can make great drinks by following a few very simple principles, and by and large, the reason most of your collegiate mixological fumblings ended up terribly isn’t from bad liquor, it’s from bad technique.

The mid-90s to the mid-00s were an exciting time in the cocktail world because we were rediscovering and codifying what those rules are, like the syntax of a forgotten language.

When to shake and when to stir, for example, is a foundational.

Authority Dale DeGroff, writing in his foundational 2002 The Craft of the Cocktail states: “Drinks that contain spirits only—such as Martinis, Manhattans, and Rob Roys—should be stirred.

Drinks that also contain fruit or citrus juice should be shaken.”

The Hot Lips, created by Jessica Gonzalez at Death & Co. breaks the rules to fantastic effect.

This is essentially a stirred spicy Margarita, but the ingredients she uses makes for stellar cocktail despite the heresy.

Here’s how to make the Hot Lips and the spicy tequila you need for the recipe.

• 0.75 oz. Jalapeño-Infused Rial Del Valle Blanco Tequila*
• 0.75 oz. Del Maguey Vida Mezcal
• 0.5 oz. lemon juice
• 0.75 oz. pineapple juice
• 0.75 oz. vanilla syrup
• 0.25 oz. cane syrup (optional)

Add all ingredients to a mixing glass and stir on ice for 15 to 20 seconds.

Strain over a large cube into a salt-rimmed rocks glass.

No garnish.

*Jalapeno-infused blanco tequila: This is among the easiest infusions you can do: Buy jalapeños, slice them, and put them in tequila.

As for what kind of tequila, make sure it’s blanco and something you like, but it’s not too terribly important—a solid, not too expensive blanco that 100 percent agave would be perfect, like Real del Valle, Olmeca Altos, or Cimarron.

As for the infusion itself, use two or three jalapeños per two cups of tequila, and let it sit for about 24 hours. It’s too precious or fragile, you can eyeball it.

Some people only infuse for 15 minutes, others for a week.

Infuse to your heat preference.es on a pick, or a lime wedge, or both.

Best Tequila Cocktails – Infante

In the case of the Infante, that idea is to replace the agave nectar and/or orange liqueur of a Margarita with orgeat, an almond syrup made beautiful with a touch of orange flower water.

This seems simple, but it’s a seismic shift; where a Margarita is all bright refreshment, the Infante, named for golden-age singer and actor Pedro Infante, blends that refreshment with a nutty decadence.

Tequila is an unusually character-driven spirit and the orgeat folds into that character like a dream, the almond lending body to the spirit’s midpalate, with a breath of the orange flower water on the finish giving a perfumed warmth to the tart lime.

It’s a Margarita with more depth and presence, one for cooler nights, a Margarita that brings a jacket to dinner, even though it may not end up needing it.

• 2 oz. reposado tequila
• 0.75 oz. lime juice
• 0.75 oz. orgeat
• 3-5 drops of orange flower water (optional)

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker and shake on ice for six to eight seconds.

Strain over fresh ice into a rocks glass and garnish with shaved fresh nutmeg over a lime wheel, a lime peel or nothing at all. 

Best Tequila Cocktails – Watermelon Margarita

The most straightforward way to add watermelon to your Margarita is also the easiest: Just take the cocktail and add watermelon juice to it.

You don’t even need a juicer, just cut up some watermelon chucks and blend them, then strain out the solids.

It’s clean and easy, and creates a deeply fruity, refreshing drink.

The downside of this is that it can add a little more sweetness and also thins it out a little.

The experience of drinking cocktails is usually pretty snappy: Your standard Margarita will be between 15 to 18 percent alcohol once you’re done shaking it.

Add an ounce of watermelon juice, and that drops to 11 to 12 percent, still stronger than a beer, but a noticeable attenuation.

If you want something a little less robust and a little more accessible, this is the perfect method.

• 2 oz. tequila
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 0.25 to 0.5 oz. agave nectar, to taste
• 1 oz. watermelon juice

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker, shake on ice for 6 to 10 seconds, strain onto fresh ice in a rocks glass and garnish with a lime wheel or a watermelon slice, or both.

Best Tequila Cocktails – Mexican Firing Squad

The Mexican Firing Squad is one of the few classic tequila cocktails we have and it’s one of the earliest recipes published in the English language that makes use of the agave spirit.

It’s incredibly simple, just some pomegranate and baking spices accenting a basic sour-style mix, but it unfolds like a story in four acts, each ingredient playing its role perfectly: You meet the tequila first before the bright juiciness of the pomegranate takes over, which turns tart with lime and then finishes with the dry textured spice of the bitters.

It’s elegant, simple, and delightful, a worthy bit of cocktail reporting by an adventurer who couldn’t help but share this deliciousness, and his enthusiasm for it, with the world.

• 2 oz. tequila
• 0.75 oz. lime juice
• 0.75 oz. grenadine
• 2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake hard for six to eight seconds.

Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice and garnish with a lime wheel, or if you’re feeling festive and want to do it as Baker suggests, “garnish with a slice of orange, a slice of pineapple, and a red cherry.”