The Perfect Cocktail for The World Tequila Day

The origins of tequila dates back to the Aztecs who used fermented sap of the agave plant for religious ceremonies. In the 16th century Spanish conquistadors arrived and introduced the distillation technique and the national spirit of Mexico was born. Tequila is divided into three different categories: Blanco, Reposado and Añejo. The blue agave is only allowed to be grown, and the tequila has to be distilled, in five designated regions in Mexico. Guanajuato, Michoacan, Nayarit, Tamaulipas and Jalisco. On World Tequila Day, July 24 this very Mexican spirit, on the rise all over the world, is celebrated.

EL DIABLO
El Diablo was first mentioned in Bergeron’s “Trader Vic’s Book of Food and Drink” from 1946 and started out as The Mexican El Diablo. It was marked with a TV in his book, to show that it is a Trader Vic original. Bergeron added a little warning to the recipe remarking that “I hate like hell to bring up unpleasant things at a time like this but go easy on this one because it’s tough on your running board”. The drink was taken off the Trader Vic’s menu in the 1950s but reappeared some years later in Bergeron’s next venture. In the early 1960s Bergeron was asked by a friend to open a restaurant in Ghirardelli Square, San Francisco. Wanting to open something Mexican he traveled all over Mexico for inspiration and was surprised he couldn’t find many drinks made with tequila, apart from the occasional Margarita or Tequila Sunrise (the original version created made with tequila, crème de cassis, lime and soda water). When opening his new Mexican restaurant, Señor Pico, in 1964, Bergeron added the drink to the menu and simplified the name of the drink to El Diablo, a name has been used since.

THE DESIGNER
The glass called Ginette was designed by Kenji Matsuura for Sugahara in 2010.

Celebrate Like a Mexican

The tequila brand Cenote initiated World Paloma Day as recently as in 2019 to promote the National Drink of Mexico. Cenote Tequila gets its name from the magnificent underground sweet water cave systems of the Yucatán Peninsula.

THE PALOMA
More popular in Mexico than the Margarita the Paloma, meaning dove in Spanish, might have gotten its name from a popular Mexican folk song from the 1860’s even though it was created almost 100 years after the song. The Paloma isn’t actually that commonly found on bar menus in Mexico. It is rather a drink you have at home, letting your guests mix their own from tequila and mixers. Squirt, the first grapefruit soda and commonly used in Palomas, was created in Phoenix, Arizona in 1938. It was advertised as a great mixer with tequila in 1950 but wasn’t actually exported to Mexico until 1955 so the cocktail probably saw the light of day sometime after that. It might have been the creation of Don Javier Delgado Corona the then owner and bartender at La Capilla in Tequila, Mexico. Correct or not, what is known is that Don Javier created another classic, the Batanga, in 1961. The Batanga is more or less a Rum and Coke with tequila instead of rum and, of course, with a salt rim.

THE DESIGNER
The Finnish designer Saara Hopea was born in Porvoo, Finland in 1925. She was the granddaughter of goldsmith Samuel Mika Westerlund where her father worked as a manager. After studying at the Central School of Industrial Design in Helsinki she worked at a metalsmith company before joining Nuutajärvi glassworks. During her career Hopea worked with jewelry design, enameling, textile design as well as glass design. The Stacking Glass was designed by Saara Hopea in 1951.

¡Viva México!

Today, September 16, is Mexican Independence Day in memory of their independence from Spain in 1810. What better way to celebrate than to have a Banderita, “Little flag”, a drink made up of three glasses, the first with freshly squeezed lime juice, the second with Tequila and the third with Sangrita, together making up the colors of the Mexican flag.

The Sangrita, playing the role of chaser (or rather of a sipper) in the Banderita, should rather be considered the star and is in itself said to make or break a Mexican restaurant. The Sangrita, meaning “Little blood” in Spanish, is a very traditional drink originating in Jalisco, the Mexican state where tequila is made. It is said to have been made from the leftover juices at the bottom of a bowl of pico de gallo, a fruit salad popular in Guadalajara. The juice was poured into clay cups and was drunk together with tequila after dinner as a well needed digestif.

The Mexican versions of the Sangrita is generally more citrus focused with grapefruit, orange and lime whilst American recipes tend to lean more towards tomato juice, rather like a citrusy Virgin Mary, and just like a Bloody Mary, every bar has its own take. Whatever the base, the Sangrita is there to perfectly balance the earthy notes of the tequila, enhancing rather than masking its flavor.

The glasses are called Fasetti and were designed by Finnish designer Kaj Franck in 1964.

Sangrita

1 part Tomato juice
1 part Lime juice
1 part Pomegranate juice
1/2 part Orange juice
1/3 part Grenadine
1 dash Hot pepper sauce
2 dashes Worchestershire sauce
black pepper
salt

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into glass.

¡Viva México!

December 6 – El Diablo

A little bit lesser known than the Margarita or the Paloma the El Diablo is still a classic tequila cocktail.

Originally it was called Mexican El Diablo it was created by Victor Bergeron and first printed in his “Trader Vic’s Book of Food and Drink” in 1946. 22 years later in “Trader Vic’s Pacific Island Cookbook” the name was shortened to El Diablo, the name that is most often used today.

The original recipe calls for ginger ale but at the time ginger ale was spicier than most versions today and was closer to a modern day ginger beer.

The glass called Ginette was designed by Kenji Matsuura for Sugahara in 2010.

¡Viva México, Viva La Paloma!

On September 16, 1810 the Roman Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla rang the bell of the church in Dolores, Mexico to rally the citizens of Dolores to revolt against the Spanish government. Even though he wasn't immediately successful this day is regarded and celebrated as Mexican Independence Day or the Grito de Dolores (Cry of Dolores). What better way to celebrate Mexico than to have a Paloma.

The Paloma, meaning dove in Spanish, is more popular in Mexico than the Margarita. It might have gotten its name from a popular Mexican folk song from the 1860’s even though it was created almost 100 years after the song.

Squirt, the first grapefruit soda and commonly used in Palomas, was created in Phoenix, Arizona in 1938. It was advertised as a great mixer with tequila in 1950 but wasn’t actually exported to Mexico until 1955 so the cocktail probably saw the light of day sometime in the 1950s. It might have been the creation of Don Javier Delgado Corona the then owner and bartender at La Capilla in Tequila, Mexico.

The Stacking Glass was designed in 1951 by the Finnish designer Saara Hopea.

Paloma

2 parts Tequila Reposado or Tequila Blanco

1/2 part Lime juice

1 pinch of salt

4 parts Grapefruit soda

Garnish with a lime wheel

Build ingredients in the glass over ice. Add the grapefruit soda and garnish with a lime wheel.

¡Viva México!

Finally We're In Mexico

Reading through classic cocktail books you won’t find that many tequila-based concoctions but this is a classic, the Margarita. The Margarita is basically a tequila-based Daisy, a type of cocktail made with spirit + usually orange liqueur + lemon or lime juice. As it happens the Spanish word for Daisy is Margarita. The first mention of the Tequila Daisy was in 1936 when the editor of the Moville Mail told the story of trying the drink in a saloon in Tijuana where it was first made by mistake when the barman reached for the wrong bottle when making a Daisy.

A fun fact is that cocktail with the exact proportions of a Margarita but with the name Picador was included in the British Café Royal Cocktail Book by William J. Tarling in 1937 meaning the famed cocktail might actually be a British invention.

The first time the cocktail was seen in print and called Margarita was not until 1953 when it was published in Esquire magazine.

Their are lots of other claims to the origins of the Margarita. For example that it was first concocted by Carlos (Danny) Herrera in 1938 at his Rancho La Gloria bar in Rosarito, Mexico for a showgirl called Marjorie King. King was allergic to all alcohol except tequila, but didn’t like to drink the stuff straight. 

Or that it was named for actress Rita Hayworth, who was offered one by an admiring bartender during a theater job in Tijuana in the 1940s. (Hayworth’s real name was Margarita Cansino.) 

Whatever the origin though, this is one amazing cocktail.

The glass called Sultan was designed by Nanny Still in 1966.

Margarita

2 parts Tequila

1 part Cointreau

1 part lime juice

Rub the rim of the glass with lime and dip it in salt. Shake ingredients with ice. Strain into glass and garnish with a lime wedge.