NEW Mexican Cocktails You Need to Try

It's time for some cocktails from Mexico City. These cocktails are all featured in Mexico City Cocktails. So if you want to, there's a link in the description below. But I've handpicked seven cocktails that I think are incredibly enticing. There's a hundred in total, but I picked seven that really jump out and spoke to me. So if you like agave spirits, you are 100% in the right place. I still picked out a couple of cocktails that aren't agave focused. There's a vodka cocktail in there. There's one that's got pisco as well, amaretto. So even if you're not an agave fan, there's still something here for you. So stay tuned and let's get cracking on seven cocktails from Mexico City. So before we get started on today's first cocktail, I have to say that my Spanish is a little bit rusty. And when I say it's a little bit rusty, I don't speak Spanish at all. So no doubt I will pronounce words incorrectly. And I apologize ahead of time. I've done a bit of Googling and we'll see how that goes. First up, I have the Carajillo Madre from Madre Cafe. This one doesn't actually have agave. So I'm starting off with a vodka-based cocktail, but it's got horchata and it's, it looks beautiful. It's a blue drink and it's garnished with an edible flower. So from what I hear, it's one of the most popular cocktails at Madre Cafe. So it looks beautiful. It looks stunning. So let's get onto the drink and measure out two ounces, 60 mil of horchata. Specifically calls for liquor 43 horchata, but of course there are plenty of recipes out there so you can make it yourself. Then one ounce, 30 mil of vodka. I'm using three, four vodka. And then coconut milk. I'm just using canned coconut milk. Measuring out two ounces, 60 milliliters. Followed by evaporated milk. So evaporated milk is unsweetened, reduced or dried, dehydrated, however you want to say it, milk. But as condensed milk actually is sweetened. So that's worth noting. So one ounce, 30 mil. And then the secret ingredient is one gram of blue spirulina. Plenty of it. What was that? Plenty of ice and then give it a shake for 10 to 12 seconds. And this is strained over ice into a balloon. And garnished with ground cardamom. Aromatics on that. Captivating. And an edible flower. I quite like either a kind of crimson or dark pink or purple flower, which then contrasts against the blue from the blue spirulina. That's a beautiful looking cocktail. If you sent one of those out at a bar, I can understand why people would order that. Cheers. That is delightful yet delicate. The horchata shines through in this one. Then you've got those warming aromatics on the nose from the cardamom. It's like very textural, it's creamy, but it's not overly rich because you've got some sugars in here, a little bit in the liqueur, but you don't have any extra added sugar into it. So it's light, it's creamy and delicious. Cocktail number two is the Mictlan. Mictlan is the place of the dead. And this particular drink was created to honor the people that have passed. It's a floral kind of hibiscus, little bit spicy margarita, essentially. In short. So I'm using La Luna, La Luna Espadincillo. Espadincillo? Espadini? Espadinillo? Maybe I'll scrap that. No, no, I'll keep that in the edit. One and a half ounces, 45 mil of your chosen mezcal. This one is sweet, grassy, notes of cooked agave. I feel like every single time I describe a mezcal or a tequila, I'm like, oh, it tastes like cooked agave. Tropical fruit, grassy, sweet, light on the smoke. Then we have Ancho Reyes, a chili liqueur made from the poblano chili? Ancho chili? Should do my research. Half an ounce, 15 mil. I find that this is kind of earthy, spicy when you're using only half an ounce in a drink. It doesn't, it's not super spicy, it just adds another earthy characteristic to it. Then we have one and a half ounces, 45 mil of hibiscus infusion. So it's just dried hibiscus in water. Cold, not a tea, just cold and infused for a couple hours and then strained. Nice and simple. And one ounce, 30 mil of fresh lime juice. Then half an ounce, 15 mil of simple syrup. Now in addition to the 100 cocktail recipes in Mexico City Cocktails, got a lot of information from bars, bartenders, influential bartenders. So it's a good read. Ice, shake for 10 to 12 seconds. And this glass has been lined with worm salt. Got this one called Worm Up. I believe it's a Sal de Gusano. I kind of put an Italian twist on it then at the end, I apologize. Maybe I should learn Spanish. Strain of a fresh ice, worm salt rim if you don't have worm salt. The worm salt is kind of like, I wouldn't say it's super salty, it's like, it's toasted nut, not nuts. Earthy, savory, umami. In comparison, like if you use the tajin, then that would be really quite limey and bright and salty. This is very different. That's the mictlam, mictlam, mictlam. Cheers. Oh, it's good drinking it through that. So on the nose, you get that earthy spiciness from the anchovies and that cooked agave from the Mezcal. The liquid itself is not super acidic and punchy because it's kind of diluted down with this hibiscus tea or hibiscus infusion. But you got a real punch of flavor from the anchovies and the salt. It's a winner. On to cocktail number three. Cocktail number three is the Verde Vida. Little bit of muddled cucumber in there. So I'm just gonna slice up four little pieces. Actually, I'll do an extra piece for garnish. So this particular Mezcal is from La Luna. It's a different expression to the one that I was using before. And it's a blend of three different agave varieties. So different notes to the one before. And I'm gonna measure out 1 1⁄2 ounces, 45 mil of Mezcal. Of course, you can use your preferred Mezcal. Now this drink was inspired by the Aztec rain god. So if you can, try and get a tiki mug that is of an Aztec god, rain god. I don't have one of those lying around, but I would use it if I did. So we have muddled cucumber, 1 1⁄2 ounces, 45 mil of Mezcal. We have 1⁄4 ounce of green chitrus. Add those delicious herbal notes. Fresh lime juice, 1 ounce, 30 milliliters. Follow that up with simple syrup, 1 ounce, 30 mil. Ice and shake. Now I've completely filled this with ice and I'll strain over the top. Because of the muddled cucumber, you could double strain if you want, but I'm not going to. And it's topped with tonic water. Tonic and green chitrus. It works. So serve it with a straw and then garnish with a sliced cucumber and blackberry. There you have the Berta Vida. I really like the combination of Mezcal and green chitrus. The herbal, vegetal qualities that combine together. And then the bitterness and the sugar from the tonic. Yeah, this is a good combination. You get that, I keep wanting to say smokiness, but this is not overly smoky. Like smoky, earthy, vegetal, those kind of combinations from Mezcal coming through. Yum. If you like your agave spirits, this is good. So the next drink is the Gaieta. This is from Rayo Cocktail Bar. Rayo finished number 17 in the 50 best bars in North America in 2023. This must be a good cocktail. Combination of Mezcal and Campari. A little touch of rum as well, so. I'm using something a little bit more smoky this time. As far as Mezcals go. So one ounce, 30 mil of Vida Del Maguey, single village. And one ounce, 30 mil of Campari. Add that straight in. Few ingredients on the table, but easy ratios to remember. Half an ounce, 15 mil of rum. It wasn't, the recipe didn't actually specify if it was like a light rum, aged rum, anything. If it just says rum, I assume it's a lightly aged rum. Then we have pineapple juice, two ounce, 60 mil. And likewise with the orange juice, two ounce, 60 mil. So this drink was created or inspired by the street vendors in Mexico City that sell fruit juices in the morning. So it's made in a Garibaldi style. So it's got a fair bit of juice in there. It's shaken and it's made so it's really light and fluffy. And then the recipe calls for a strawberry raspberry syrup. Half an ounce, 15 mil. I'm using Liber & Co Pacific Strawberry Syrup. So it doesn't have the raspberry component in it, but I can fix that just by throwing a fresh raspberry in. Half an ounce, 15 mil of fresh lime juice. The recipe calls just for shaking it to aerate it and then straining it over ice in a wine glass. But I'm gonna put a single cube in there just to help with the aeration. And just chill it just that little bit before I pour it into the wine glass. Give it a nice hard shake. I wanna make it nice and foamy. And transfer it. Orange wedge to garnish. I love the gradient. Like you can definitely tell it's inspired by the Garibaldi because it's just super foamy, super frothy. It will be nice and textural. The only thing that I can point out is the fact that there's lots of little raspberry pieces in there because I didn't use a raspberry strawberry syrup. I threw that whole raspberry in. Didn't double strain it, so. It's not the end of the world. Cheers. The mezcal is still prominent on the nose. Yeah, that is a fun variation on a Garibaldi. For those who don't know, Garibaldi is shaken orange juice that's like really nice and fluffy with Campari. There's obviously a lot more intricate, more flavor combinations within the drink. But it is nice and fluffy, it's textural. The foam wasn't, it was a little bit warm because it wasn't shaken to begin with, but I can overlook that. Yeah, I love this. I love Garibaldis, so therefore I knew I was gonna love this drink. Mezcal shines through. The Campari sits in the background. It's not, like you get that lingering bitterness, but it's not too strong. Nice and juicy. The rum's only there just to kind of bump up that proof. Get a little bit of tartness as well from the strawberry syrup. Fun. And don't forget, if you're enjoying today's cocktail, you can follow the link in the description below to pre-order your copy of Mexico City Cocktails. The next one is called the Mexalita, Mex, Mexcalita? Mexcalita Hipe. I've chosen to use illegal mezcal. I pick up tropical fruit, citrus, not, it's not an overly smoky mezcal, and white pepper. So two ounces, 60 mil into the cocktail shaker, followed by Cointreau, orange liqueur. Everyone's familiar with Cointreau, surely. Quarter ounce, seven and a half mil, and then charred pineapple juice. Basically, I've just chopped up some pineapple, torched it with a butane torch, charred it, and then blitzed it up, and then strained it, essentially. Hopefully, you can see on camera, it's not a really bright yellow pineapple juice. It's a little bit dark, because obviously, it's charred the sugars. It's blackened on the outside before I blended it and juiced it. So, yum. Two ounces, 60 mil. Little bit of spice with ginger syrup. Half an ounce, 15 mil. The last of my lime juice. Just a quarter ounce, seven and a half mil. Add some ice, and then shake for 10 to 12 seconds. This one has a worm salt rim, and a strain of fresh ice, garnished with a charred pineapple, and some ground cardamom. They have the mezcalita jipe. Worm salt rim, charred pineapple juice in there, charred pineapple garnish, crushed. You know, I've used a mortar and pestle to crush the cardamom and use that as a garnish. The aromatics on this are awesome. Oh, I like the touch of that charred pineapple. You have that slight chili earthiness from the salt, but it's the charred pineapple that is the real hero in this. And pineapple, charred pineapple, complements like the tropical fruit that comes from the mezcal. Nice and textural, because it was freshly juiced pineapple. The spice from the ginger syrup, it's there, but it's pretty subtle. That's why I'm getting more spice from the salt. But it kind of amplifies each other. I feel like I would love to try this with agave syrup instead of the ginger syrup. But great, nonetheless. And second to last, I have the Horta Retrato, which is, to me, a very, very strange mix. It was so strange, and as well as the ratios seemed perplexing to me. All the others I've made, and I've tried for the first time on the channel, this one I had to make before, because I was like, this doesn't seem right. But it actually, it works. If you like an amaretto sour, I think you'll like this drink. This is a sweeter drink, so some people might like to lower the amount of amaretto or the agave. But making it as is, it still manages to work, even though it is quite sweet. So just keep that in mind going into it. This is from a bar called Diego Ayo. So I think that stands for Diego and me, I believe. Let me know, let me know in the comments if I'm completely wrong. Super easy recipe to remember. So first ingredient is pisco. This particular one is Picaro Pisco, which is a Peruvian pisco. The brand itself is owned by someone from my town, from Adelaide. So easy ingredients to remember as far as the ratios go. Just one ounce, 30 mil. Starting off with that Peruvian pisco. And then amaretto. Now I've got three different amarettos to choose from. I had Lazzarone, Disaronno, and Luxardo. The reason I chose this one is it's one of the, it's 24%, so it's the same as one of the other ones. Disaronno in Australia is a little bit lower, but it also has a little bit more spice to it. So because I could see that it was gonna be a sweeter cocktail, I wanted to incorporate that spice to potentially kind of like balance it out. So for my liking, because I've already made this, I'm gonna do a scant ounce. So meaning it's just under an ounce, 30 mil. We have agave syrup, or agave nectar I should say. One ounce, 30 mil. That was scant as well, if I'm being honest. Because that is a lot of agave nectar. Then one ounce, 30 mil of passion fruit pulp. One ounce, 30 mil of lemon juice. And the recipe calls for egg white, but I'm using Miss Better Bitter's Miraculous Foamer. Just a dash of that. It's foaming bitters, you don't need a dry shake, I don't feel, so ice. Shake for 10 to 12. Now remember you're going to need a large volume coupe for this one, especially if you're using egg white, because you have 180 mil, six ounces of ingredients. So don't use your small coupe or Nicanora glass. An oversized coupe glass would be perfect, such as this. Unfortunately I can't do the garnish that is called for in the book, because it's a printed disc that sits, a printed edible disc that sits on top. Unfortunately I don't have one of those printers sitting at home, but they have the autorotato. I feel like every time I try and pronounce a Spanish word, I sound very Italian. Amaretto on the nose straight away. It is 100%, like I said, it's a sweeter cocktail, but if you go into that expecting it, like it's not, it's sweet, but it's not like just sickly sweet. I think that just is kind of natural with a lot of amaretto sours, especially when you have an ounce of it. I just find it really interesting how these particular ingredients work together. You've got a Peruvian grape brandy, an Italian amaretto liqueur, you've got an agave syrup, so it's just three very different ingredients that kind of just work. I feel like I much prefer this the second time around, purely because I did a scant measurement of the amaretto and the agave nectar. I mean obviously it depends on the agave nectar and the amaretto that you use, the sugar content in those, but these particular two I like using a scant measurement, so it drops the sweetness a little bit further. Sweet but good. All right, I've saved a good one till the end. This is the Conservatoria. Now I love the 20th century, which is a gin-based cocktail, which calls for gin, Le Leblanc, white creme de cacao, so chocolate liqueur, and lemon juice. It sounds like it wouldn't work, like gin, wine aperitivo, I'm sorry, aromatized wine with citrus notes, gentian, and chocolate, but it works really well. This has to be modeled on that. In saying that, in the book, it does call for Bianco Vermouth, not Cocchi Americano. So I'm doing a substitution here, because I don't have any Bianco Vermouth, but I really wanted to try it. So let's make it. So I'm starting off with yogurt. Yes, yogurt. Doesn't actually say what type of yogurt, so I'm just going with a plain Greek yogurt. So 60 milliliters, which is four tablespoons. As you can see, I'm being very rough here. And to that, I'll be adding 45 mil of tequila. I'm using Fortaleza de Blanco, like all-time favorite tequila. And I don't think I've actually mixed with it yet. I feel like it's a really good sipping tequila. But saying, whatever you put in, you'll get out. So you put in good ingredients, you'll get a good cocktail at the end. So this is where I'm diverting. So as I said, it's with a Bianco Vermouth, but I'm actually subbing it for Cocchi Americano, which is made with wormwood, gentian, cinchona, citrus peel. It's an aromatized wine. So one ounce, 30 mil. So probably more, a little bit sweeter, and more citrusy, and a little bit more bitter. It will be in the same ballpark, though, sort of. White creme de cacao, one ounce, 30 mil. G.E. Mezzanine, that's how you pronounce it. Three quarters of an ounce, 22.5 mil of lime juice. Ice into the shaker, and shake for 10 to 12 seconds. Serve it like a fizz, so it's double strained into a highball glass that's chilled. Garnish with a lemon twist. And there you have the Conservatorio. Citrusy, subtle chocolate, tangy from the yogurt. I feel like, kinda, like it is a, it's delicious, but it kinda masks the tequila that's been used in there, which is a shame, because this is a delicious tequila. That might also be coming from the fact that I've been drinking all Mezcal. Mezcal has a more robust flavor profile, but it's still really tasty. I hope you've enjoyed today's cocktails. Let me know in the comments below which is the first one you'll be trying. Are you a fan of Mezcal? Are you a fan of agave spirits? Let me know in the comments below. If you would like a copy of Mexico City Cocktails, you can follow the link in the description below. I'll see you soon. The horchata shines. The horchata shine. The horchata shines. Hell. The horchata shines. What is wrong with me? That's been a long day.