Raise a glass to the party-pleasing drink.
Tequila is perhaps Mexico’s best-known contribution to cocktail culture. It’s also the essential ingredient in the most popular Mexican cocktail: the margarita pours. The drink pours simple or complex, refreshing or fiery, however your imagination can concoct the margarita.
To celebrate that most tequila-washed party holiday, Cinco de Mayo, we’ve collected a batch of margaritas that is sure to please.
Mango Mango Margarita
2 ounces El Jimador Mango Mango
1 ounce lime juice
1 ounce agave nectar
Add all ingredients to a shaker and fill with ice. Shake and strain into a glass filled with fresh ice. Garnish with a lime wedge
Margarita Verde
2 ounces Rancho Allegre silver tequila (or preferred tequila)
1 ounce fresh lime juice
¾ ounce cucumber purée (recipe follows)
½ oz agave syrup
1 cucumber slice, for garnish
Cumber Purée
2 whole English/hothouse cucumbers
6 medium basil leaves
1 large jalapeño
Blend purée ingredients, and mix them with other ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Shake mixture. Pour into glass with ice.
Prickly Pear Margarita
1½ ounces silver tequila (preferably Chinaco Blanco)
1½ ounces fresh lime juice
½ ounce agave nectar
½ ounce Solerno Blood Orange Liqueur
2 ounces prickly pear purée
Tajín Clásico chile seasoning, for rim garnish
Fill a large cocktail shaker with ice. Add all ingredients except the chile seasoning and shake vigorously. Pour into glasses rimmed with the chile seasoning and filled with ice. Garnish with lime slices.
Smoked Sage Margarita
Secreto Lounge, St. Francis Hotel
1½ ounces añejo tequila
1 ounce orange liqueur
½ ounce freshly squeezed lime juice
2 sage leaves
Smoked sea salt
Lime wheel
Combine liquid ingredients in a mixing glass. Invert a cocktail shaker and ignite a sage leaf underneath, capturing the smoke inside the shaker.
Fill the mixing glass with ice, cap with the smoke-filled shaker, and shake for 10 seconds.
Strain into a glass rimmed with smoked sea salt and filled with ice. Garnish with remaining sage leaf and lime wheel.
