Happy Cinco de Mayo to our Mexican brothers and sisters out there. Today’s cocktail is an old spec from 1937, appearing in the Cafe Royal Cocktail Book. This was published by the Bartenders Guild in the United Kingdom. It’s rare on this blog, in part, because we don’t do a lot of Tequila or Mezcal cocktails. As I noted in last year’s Cinco de Mayo post for The Succulent, Tequila is a great spirit and mixes well, but it’s just that when the season dictates a tequila drink, I usually prefer rum by that time of year. I’m a very seasonal person. So, tequila, for me, becomes that tweener-type of spirit that bridges spring’s gin and summer’s rum and tropical, boat, or tiki drinks. 

This drink should look really familiar. Substituting gin for tequila would give you the root spec for many early gin drinks. It’s a simple three-ingredient cocktail, and like a lot of similar gin drinks, it would also be great for batching. If you ask Professor Google, you’ll find a lot of recipes for this drink that call for fruit juices of all types, but those aren’t original. Trader Vic, yes THAT Trader Vic, is responsible for this development. The original is eminently better and more balanced.

In some respects, I am actively avoiding making a Margarita for this occasion. Most Margaritas are so badly constructed that I’ve honestly not even felt the desire to spec a good home version. They tend to have similar conception issues as Lemon Drops, which we will discuss later in the month. The ones you buy out are usually super sour or super sweet and kind of dank because the mix or juice is a few weeks old. Enter the brown 5-day-old lime wedge or wheel perched on the side of the glass, and you get the picture. Of course, a heart-attack-inducing amount of salt on the rim covers this multitude of sins. In short, they’re mostly terrible, cheap drinks made at places that don’t try to make good drinks. And frankly, I’ve never been to a craft cocktail bar that had one on the menu, so perhaps this is signaling that they also know most of them are bad (and hence, don’t want to signal the wrong thing). Let me know below if you’ve found a good one in the wild (I might be self-selecting into places with bad versions). I do know the spec can make a good drink. The Pegu Club is an awesome cocktail. Maybe Margaritas are just better with gin. But I digress.

This cocktail is exquisite. I did not expect its simplicity to blow me away as it did — I could definitely batch this and drink it all at once. If you’ve only had Trader Vic’s juiced-up versions, you’re going to be shocked. The reason this cocktail really works is that the vermouth complements the Tequila and lets its flavor profile come through. You’ll also note that I’ve doubled the usual amount of saline. Tequila, more than any other spirit, loves salinity. Here, it sets off the flavor notes in the Tequila and Curaçao. I can’t say enough about how much I enjoyed this one. But I shouldn’t be surprised, vermouth and Orange Curaçao combine with a wide range of spirits to make great drinks (e.g., see El Presidente for a similar spec with rum). The classic spec is equal parts. I adjust this a bit to let the Tequila shine. Enter The Matador…

Let’s tip one. 

Thoroughly chill your glass. This is a stirred drink. Add the ingredients, sans garnish, to the mixing glass. Load the mixing glass with ice and stir until the drink is well-chilled. Fine-strain into your glass. Garnish and enjoy.

There’s no wiggle room on the spirit here; otherwise, it wouldn’t be a Matador. Would Reposado or Mezcal work? I don’t know. I’m not versed enough in agave to say. For me, an interesting lever to pull, and likely my next, would be Manzanilla Sherry in place of the dry vermouth. Manzanilla has a salinity that would work well with the Tequila, though I don’t know how much its almond note would clash here.

I’ve opted for orange curaçao to add a richness and depth of orange flavor. You could easily dry this out and give it a fresh, bright citrus profile with Triple Sec. If that affects the balance of sugar and acid, a Blanc Vermouth would be in order. I sometimes like a grassy Agricole-based orange liqueur, and that might work well here too, as in the El Presidente I’ve linked above. Or, you could get even more “planty” with a liqueur like Chareau, which is aloe-based.

Honestly, though, this is an elegant drink that doesn’t need much tinkering. It sort of left me wishing more people thought of this when thinking of a tequila-based cocktail instead of Margaritas. It batches well and as you can see just below, provides great fodder for a Derby x Cinco de Mayo house party.