Skip to main content

Try these fruity, complex cocktails for National Tequila Day

Three delicious and unusual cocktails to up your tequila game

Tequila Cayéya
Tequila Cayéya

Today is National Tequila Day, and there’s never been a better time to get into tequila. If you haven’t touched the stuff since your college days, you might be surprised by what modern craft tequilas have evolved into. While you’ll still find your dubious mixtos on supermarket shelves, there are also a huge range of high quality, sustainably produced tequilas which use traditional methods and ingredients.

There’s also plenty of ways to drink tequila other than the obligatory slammers. Fine tequilas can be sipped neat, and it can be used in many cocktails. There are the classics that you’ll find in many bars — margaritas, palomas, and mexican mules are perrenial favorites — but that’s just the tip of the iceberg of what you can do with tequila.

Recommended Videos

The rich agave flavors are an easy match with fruit juice, smoky notes, and honey, so if you’re feeling adventurous then you can branch out into some lesser known tequila cocktails as well, like the three recipes below.

Agave Suave

Tequila Cayéya
Tequila Cayéya

Courtesy of Tequila Cayéya and Freehold Brooklyn

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 oz Cayéya tequila
  • 5 oz lime juice
  • 1 oz passionfruit mix (equal parts passionfruit puree & Passoa passionfruit liqueur)
  • 2 ginger coins
  • Ginger beer

Method:

Add ginger coins to shaker and muddle to express ginger.
Add lime juice, passionfruit mix, and Cayéya to tin.
Shake with ice and strain into Tajin rimmed glass over fresh ice.
Top with ginger beer and garnish with cucumber surfboard.

Elevated Paloma

Mayenda Tequila

Courtesy of Mayenda Tequila

Ingredients:

  • 2 oz Mayenda Reposado
  • 1 oz grapefruit juice
  • .50 oz lime juice
  • .50 oz honey syrup
  • A pinch of smoked salt
  • Top with club soda
  • Grapefruit wedge garnish

Method:

Build all ingredients except club soda into shaker tin with ice and shake until chilled.
Strain into a Collins glass over fresh ice and top with club soda.
Garnish with brulee’d grapefruit wedge

Matsuwa

Don Fulano

Courtesy of Don Fulano

Ingredients:

  • 2 oz Don Fulano Reposado
  • 1 oz ginger honey syrup
  • 0.5 oz Islay single malt
  • 0.5 oz fresh lemon juice
  • Garnish with pickled ginger

Method:
Add ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake vigorously to combine/chill. Strain into a double old fashioned glass filled with fresh ice and garnish.

Georgina Torbet
Georgina Torbet is a cocktail enthusiast based in Berlin, with an ever-growing gin collection and a love for trying out new…
Breckenridge Distillery is releasing its Cognac Cask Finish Whiskey nationally
Fans of cognac-finished whiskeys will soon have a new expression to purchase
Breckenridge

We’ve seen unique barrels used to age and finish whiskey over the years. We’re talking about sherry, port, and other interesting casks. But there are few as complex and nuanced as cognac. That’s why we were so excited when we heard that the folks at Breckenridge Distillery are releasing its popular Cognac Cask Finish Whiskey nationwide.
Breckenridge Cognac Cask Finish Whiskey

Initially launched in 2022 as a limited-edition expression, the brand announced this week that Breckenridge Cognac Cask Finish Whiskey would officially join its line of cask finish whiskeys. It’s currently available in Colorado and will be rolled out nationally in the next few months.

Read more
A Michelin-starred guide to ‘freshly squeezed’ Shiboritate sakes
Beverage Director Leo Lê of Kappo Sono teaches us all about this unique variety of unpasteurized sake.
several bottles of sake at Kappo Sono.

For most people in America, mention sake and a clear, dry spirit come to mind, served either hot or cold in small cups alongside Japanese cuisine. However, like wine, sake has many styles. One of the most interesting varieties is the complex Shiboritate sake. Translated to “freshly squeezed," this unpasteurized sake is a classic taste of the spring season in Japan. We interviewed Leo Lê, previously of two Michelin-starred Uchu and current beverage director of Kappo Sono, a 12-seat kaiseki restaurant helmed by Chef Chikara Sono, to learn more about this vibrant style of sake.

"It's [Shiboritate sake] often really juicy. It's vivacious, vibrant, in your face, and really fun to drink," said Lê. "They're often effervescent sake as well...and it's a good metaphor for the start of the spring."

Read more
Feel the sea breeze with these seaside-inspired gin cocktails
Sheringham’s Seaside Gin

Savory cocktails are everywhere this year, and I couldn't be happier about that. While there's certainly a place for a sweet or fruity treat once in a while, there's something about a bracing, salty cocktail which I find so compelling -- and a welcome break from the typical cocktails you see in most bars and restaurants.

As a huge gin lover I'm naturally a big fan of savory gins, which can use ingredients as diverse as celery, basil, thyme, salt, and kelp to add a herbal, green, fresh and fragrant note to a spirit that plays perfectly in savory drinks,

Read more