My friend Ted hit a birthday milestone earlier this year. I was invited to contribute to the celebration by designing a signature cocktail that the fantastic bar team at Del Mar would serve the guests at his party. The only guideline I was given was to use tequila. This turned out to be harder than I thought. I haven’t worked a lot with tequila outside of making margaritas (though my Desert Orange and Smoked Pearl recipes use mezcal). And I wanted to live up to the circumstances – an important occasion attended by a lot of people. The recipe had to be good and have wide appeal. Needless to say, there was a lot of trial and error before settling on a final recipe. But I think I succeeded, and now I’m sharing it with you – Ted’s Tequila Cocktail:
The concept I had in mind was to make a drink that marked a transition from spring to summer, which seemed both literally and metaphorically apt. For spring I chose the floral and herbal flavors of St.-Germain and yellow Chartreuse; for summer, pineapple and jalapeño. I also added a little lemon juice to amp up the tanginess a little and balance against the sweetness of the spring flavors.
It worked! In fact, this is one of my favorite concoctions to date. It’s a perfect balance of sweet, tangy and spicy, and very easy to drink. It went over very well at the birthday party, and it has been a crowd-pleaser in subsequent events, too. Be prepared to serve multiple rounds if you’re making this one for guests!
A word on spice. You can modulate how spicy the drink is by being mindful of the number of seeds in the jalapeño pepper. As I detail in the recipe, this drink should be shaken with one slice of jalapeño pepper and garnished with another slice. More seeds (in either place, but especially in the shaker) means more spice. You can minimize the spice by using slices of pepper that contain no seeds.
Here is the recipe:
Ted's Tequila Cocktail
Ingredients
- 1 oz. tequila I used Espolòn
- 1/2 oz. yellow Chartreuse
- 1/2 oz. St.-Germain
- 1/2 oz. pineapple juice
- 1/2 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 pineapple chunk
- 1 jalapeño
Instructions
- Combine the tequila, Chartreuse, St.-Germain, juices and a slice of jalapeño pepper in a shaking tin with ice. Note that more seeds in the jalapeño pepper means more spice. Shake vigorously.
- Strain into a rocks glass over ice.
- Garnish with a chunk of pineapple and a slice of jalapeño pepper.
Enjoy!