Recipes
Specs built to show off a great bottle, not hide it. Every recipe names the bottles that make it best.
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Photo: Eaters Collective, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Sommelier
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Tell the sommelier what you are in the mood for, or what is on your shelf, and it will point you to the spec that fits and the bottle that makes it best.
Answers come from an AI sommelier reading our specs and blind scores. It can slip; the recipe pages are the record. Please enjoy responsibly.
The purist's margarita: no orange liqueur, just tequila, lime, and agave nectar. It puts a great blanco center…
The winter margarita: blood orange brings color and a bitter edge that plain lime cannot, and an optional whis…
An añejo swapped in for whiskey makes a rich, agave-driven Old Fashioned. Best with a dry, oak-balanced añejo …
A herbaceous margarita riff with cilantro and jalapeño that plays beautifully against a grassy highland blanco…
The espresso martini defects to agave. Reposado brings vanilla and pepper that vodka never could, fresh espres…
West Texas minimalism: blanco, lime, and Topo Chico. Nothing to hide behind, which is exactly why bottle choic…
Fresh berries muddled into the shaker, not syrup from a gun. Made this way it is a fruit-forward drink that st…
Cream of coconut turns the spec into a beach drink without burying it. Toast the coconut for the rim; that ten…
Sweet pineapple and fresh jalapeño pull in opposite directions and meet in the middle. A high proof blanco hol…
The Manhattan template holds up when añejo replaces rye. Sweet vermouth and bitters have always flattered barr…
Watermelon and serrano in the same glass, with basil holding the line between them. Built on lemon rather than…
The drink that built tequila's global fame. Balanced, bright, and endlessly riffable, and far better with a br…
Mexico's everyday favorite, grapefruit, lime, and salt over a good blanco. Longer and more refreshing than a m…
The legendary tequila-and-cola from La Capilla in Tequila town, built with a salt rim and stirred with a knife…
A citrus-loaded Paloma cousin served in a clay cup that adds an earthy note. Orange, lime, grapefruit, and sal…
The blender done right: frozen mango instead of ice does the chilling and the thickening at once, so the drink…
A pre-war dessert cocktail that time forgot: blanco, white crème de cacao, cream, and a blush of pomegranate. …
The modern classic that put agave in the Old Fashioned: reposado for structure, a half ounce of mezcal for smo…
Mexico City's after-dinner standard, rebuilt on agave. Licor 43 brings vanilla and citrus, fresh espresso brin…
A passion fruit sour in margarita clothing. The puree carries body and tartness where juice would thin out, an…
The gin Southside with agave underneath it. Mint, lime and soda keep it long and cooling, and the tequila read…
Blueberries muddled hard until they give up their color, basil for the herbal top note, and no orange liqueur …
An Old Fashioned pared back to almost nothing: reposado, a quarter ounce of honey, and enough vanilla orange b…
Cucumber and basil muddled into a margarita build, with half an ounce of green Chartreuse behind them. The Cha…
Jamaica flower against a reposado, which is a better match than it sounds: the barrel's vanilla softens the ta…
An espresso martini built on agave, with half an ounce of mezcal doing the work a dark roast usually does. The…
The vodka lemon drop with agave underneath, and far more lemon than the original ever used. It lands closer to…
The French 75 with a blanco in place of the gin. One ounce of tequila is the whole trick: enough for the agave…
The upgraded margarita, and the rare drink that justifies two orange liqueurs: Cointreau inside for dry bright…
Three ingredients, more lime than most, and nothing to hide behind. Cutting the liqueur out takes the sweetnes…
Strawberry and basil muddled into fresh lemonade, lengthened with soda. It drinks like a porch drink and stays…
A grapefruit sour with rosemary running under it, finished with smoke from a torched sprig. The herb and the s…
Peach and mint against lemon rather than lime, then lengthened with ginger beer. The ginger is what stops the …
A martini with agave in the gin's place, and bianco vermouth rather than dry, which keeps a little sweetness u…
Cucumber muddled into a full-acid margarita, with just a quarter ounce of Cointreau for lift. The cucumber rea…
Prickly pear does the colour and most of the body; lime and a clean blanco keep it from collapsing into syrup.…
Maple against amaro, with reposado bridging them: the barrel in the tequila already points at the syrup, and t…
The Aperol spritz rebuilt on reposado, with orange juice giving it more body than the Italian original ever ha…
The Moscow Mule with agave instead of vodka, and several dashes of Angostura to give the ginger something to w…