#sauzatequila

Grapeshot (Revised Edition)

This easy drinking tequila cocktail looks like a Martini. Taste it and it is surprisingly complex and fruity. Yet it is simple to make. Lots of triple sec make this drink stronger than it tastes and white grape juice is a nice break from the cloudy and acidic lime we usually associate with tequila.

2 oz. tequila

1 oz. triple sec

2 oz. white grape juice

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.

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.

Spanish Moss

Look at that brown-green color on those large rocks. That's the effect the Spanish Moss is going for. Now a minty coffee and tequila drink sounds pretty disgusting on paper. Really it was one of the best creme de menthe drinks I've had because it avoids using citrus like you find in too many mint drinks, especially ones involving tequila.

What you have is a cool visual effect and a sipper of a cocktail that has mint on the nose and the tongue at first sip. That gives way to a rich and grainy coffee flavor that lasts long in the finish. So this drink is really a winner on several fronts. I used my homemade coffee liqueur--vodka based this time with lots of creme de cacao for richness. Dabbling in combining coffee or infusing beans in your neutral spirit and adding sugar is what is so fun about making coffee liqueur. There's no wrong way to do it, but creme de cacao is almost necessary to avoid too much bitterness.

2 oz. silver tequila

1 oz coffee liqueur

1/2 oz. green creme de menthe

Beerita

What's this? A Margarita made with beer? Isn't that gross? No. Its gose--a type of sour beer with lots of lemon and lime flavors. You start with a typical Margarita recipe and top it with beer. Anejo tequila works better than silver, if you have it.

2 oz. gold tequila

1 oz. lime juice

1/2 oz. triple sec

1/2 oz. simple syrup

gose beer (Union Old Pro used)