The Tequila Sunrise Deserves Better

Can the tequila sunrise be improved? Now that's a rhetorical question because I think the majority of people watching this video will agree with me when I say that absolutely the tequila sunrise can be improved. It's not a very good drink, it was created in the 1970s, well sort of, but I'll go into that detail a little bit later. So it's a simple drink, it's tequila, orange juice and grenadine. I really don't like orange juice in cocktails or majority of cocktails and you've got sweeter orange juice, not a lot of acidity, it's only got a half a percent of citric acid I believe or a combination of acids. So it's low in acid in comparison to like lemon and lime juice so it's a sweeter juice and then you've got a grenadine which is also sweet. So there's nothing really to balance it out but for those who are actually looking for the original recipe I'm going to make that first quickly and then I've got three alternatives for you to make which I think are all better. Two ounces 60 ml of tequila, I'm using a Blanco, four ounces 120 ml of freshly pressed orange juice. Now I'm only shaking very briefly just to combine the ingredients and slightly chill it, I don't want to dilute it too much. That's enough. And of course you could just make this straight in the glass, I just choose to do it this way, helps if I do it the right way. Make sure you use a good quality grenadine syrup, I'm using the grenadine syrup from Liber & Co. This is made with cold processed pomegranate juice with Californian fruits so it's a Mediterranean climate so it produces really good quality pomegranates. So we want to use about a quarter ounce, a third of an ounce roughly of good quality grenadine and because the syrup is heavy it's naturally going to sink to the bottom of the glass. Garnish it with a little orange on the side. Can't deny that it's a good looking drink, I mean it looks like a 1970s drink. There you have Tequila Sunrise. Now give it a little bit of a stir so that syrup mixes through a bit. I mean you get a good taste of that tequila but I mean at the same time you sort of do and you don't. You get a little bit of that agave at the background but at the same time you're using four ounces of orange juice which kind of washes it out. I've completely contradicted myself but you do get a little bit of the agave but it's not overly strong because there's so much dilution through the orange juice. I mean it's just missing something, it just it needs a bit of vibrancy, it needs some maybe some bitters or some more acid through lemon or lime juice. At the very least I recommend adding a third of an ounce to half an ounce of lemon or lime juice, probably lime juice because we're using tequila here. As it is I think it can be improved greatly so let's get on to drink number two. So whilst that is the popularized version of the tequila sunrise it's not actually the original. So the version I just made was made in 1970, the original version was made in about 1930 and it's a simple concoction of tequila, lime juice, creme de cassis, so black currant liqueur and soda water. So cocktail number three that I'm going to make is going to be inspired by that but it's not going to be the original version. This version here is going to be a tequila sunrise sour. Bear with me. First thing we're going to do is adjust the orange juice so it mimics the acidity of lemon juice, really simple. So I'll start by weighing out one ounce 30 ml of orange juice. Orange juice as I mentioned earlier has an acidity of roughly about 0.5 percent so there we have 26.5 grams, 26.5. Now the acidity of orange is 0.5 percent, the acidity of lemon juice is 6 percent so we want to times 26.5 by 5.5 percent to increase the acidity to that of lemon juice. So I need to add 1.45 grams of citric acid. Turn this and then add 1.45 grams. Yep that's sour, tastes like orangey lemon juice. So this drink is going to be quite different in the way it looks, in the way it's served but it's going to have the essence of a tequila sunrise. Stronger flavor because there's less dilution through the orange juice. So we have two ounces 60 ml of Blanco tequila then three quarters of an ounce 22.5 ml of that acid adjusted orange juice and half an ounce 15 ml of La Brinco's real grenadine syrup. Follow the link in the description and grab yourself a bottle. $15 bottle, excellent shelf life, keep it in the fridge. Actually turns out to be quite a nice color, the combination of the grenadine, the orange juice looks kind of like a jacarose. Tequila sunrise sour. It's such a better drink, you can taste the tequila because you don't have so much orange juice. It's as it sounds, it's a sour version but you've still got the essence of the tequila sunrise being the grenadine and orange juice combined with the agave flavors. So this version of the tequila sunrise was made by Bobby Hugel in Houston. It's definitely inspired by the original version, the 1930s version but it's not lengthened with soda water. So served on pebble ice, more like a sour as well, probably more like a bramble I should say. So we have one and a half ounces 45 ml of Blanco tequila, three quarters of an ounce 22.5 ml of fresh lemon juice. I shall set that aside and then into the glass I'm measuring out half an ounce 15 ml of black currant liqueur, so creme de cassis, thick and rich, seven and a half ml of Libra & Co's grenadine syrup. Pebble ice into the glass and then shake the rest of the ingredients and strain over the top. I mean you definitely don't drink it without stirring it because you are just going to get syrup and liqueur, intense liqueur. I mean it's for looks. So lemon, blackberry as a garnish, probably cheap as these blackberries were, expensive. So if you do want to support the channel, jump on my Patreon page so I can afford some more blackberries. Cool looking drink, looks like a bramble. You really need to stir it first because you've got the acidic component up the top and the sweetness at the bottom. If you drink without stirring then it's just not balanced. Very cassis forward, like a lot of black currant in there. I can understand for presentation purposes why it's made that particular way but it probably makes more sense just to put all the ingredients into a shaker and shake and strain over pebble ice and it will taste better. But as long as you stir it, black currant and pomegranate, they're two heroes. A little bit on the sweeter side but in a good way. Let's get on to the last one. Alright this next version of the Tequila Sunrise is the Tequila Sunrise 2.0 and it was created by Shaker Mill in California. Well not Shaker Mill, Shaker Mill's the bar. It's on the menu at Shaker Mill. Someone there made the recipe. I know the ingredients, tequila, orange, french vermouth, lemon and a mezcal negroni garnish. So I'm just winging it as far as the ingredients go but this is going to be a best guess, first attempt. I haven't tried it before but it sounds delicious. So starting off with the Blanco Tequila, one and a half ounces, 45 ml. I'm going to go one ounce, 30 ml. French vermouth, it's going to dry out that juice, add some more botanical notes so half an ounce, 15 ml. And then lemon juice, I'm going to do half an ounce, 15 ml. Another drink where I have to set that aside and I'll prep the top of the drink. So it's a mezcal negroni as the garnish or float which gives it that sunrise effect. So I just got back from Mexico, going back about 10 days ago. The team from Del Magey hosted me there and I had an absolute blast, like it was epic. Really really enjoyed it, super informative. First time I've been to Mexico, I went to the States a little bit as well, first time in the States. But I had a few mezcal negronis and they were served with a combination of vermouths or punta mess as well. So that's how I'm going to make it for today. So I'm just going to do a mini version, half ounce, 15 ml. Measures, mezcal, sweet vermouth and punta mess, so quarter ounce of each. And then Campari. Obviously if you're making a few of these, you just have this batched up in a bottle. I'm going to leave this warm, you could stir it and dilute it and then pour over the top as a float, but I'm going to serve it like that because I'm going to serve it over pebble ice anyway. Okay, so in here we have the tequila, the orange juice, the French vermouth and lemon juice. Short shake, just to combine because we're serving it over pebble ice. So I do like this version because we're adding that bitterness and mezcal too. My appreciation for mezcal has escalated since my trip. And then we've got the mezcal negroni floated over the top. After taking that sip, it wasn't great. It needed more sugar, but that could come from this. Oh, on the nose, that mezcal is coming through. And for garnish, half an orange wheel and then a brandy cherry. These are just ones I made a few years back. Not bad for a first attempt. It could be a little bit better though. The balance kind of seemed off in the original drink before I added the negroni, but then the negroni adds that bitterness and the sweetness from the vermouths and the balance comes back into play. I think maybe if I lowered the orange juice, um, maybe if there actually was a little like quarter ounce of grenadine, it's not in the original recipe, it's not on the menu, but then it kind of gives a little bit of a hat tip, a nod to the original tequila sunrise. Oh yeah, that looks great. That's good. Admittedly, I should have been a little bit more patient and reached out to Shake Mill and perhaps asked them for their recipe, but for a first attempt at just recreating it just based off a list of ingredients without measurements, it's not too bad. I like that. It's definitely way more complex than the orange juice tequila and grenadine version for obvious reasons. Definitely a lot more complex. Now let me know in the comments below which one you would prefer. My favorite? Probably number three. Thanks for watching. I'll see you soon. Cheers.