The great thing about the world’s most popular drink? It’s also the world’s most malleable drink.
The Margarita brings together a few simple ingredients that happen to result in something far superior to the individual parts: tequila, fresh lime juice, orange liqueur (and, if you like, a conservative hit of agave, or that’s how we like it).
You can add a gajillion other things to yours to soup it up as you like — fresh juices like beet, carrot or celery; spicy elements via infusions with hot peppers; other liqueur swaps like blue curaçao or elderflower; tropical or other fresh fruits muddled into the mix.
To the latter idea, the good folks at Cazadores tequila, made in the highlands of Arandas, Jalisco in Mexico (tequila can only be made in Mexico by law, and within that country there are only five approved regions, Jalisco having the largest production), recently launched a new pineapple flavored version that caught our eye.
It might escape your notice on the bottle, but the alcohol content hovers at 35% alcohol by volume, or 70 proof, which is a bit below your garden-variety average spirit on the shelf, which are typically 80 proof. Not to drag you too far into the laws of the TTB, but because it’s considered a flavored distilled alcohol, it can drop a bit below the standard alcohol level. So here, there’s a little bit of a nice low-fi feel to what you’re sipping on, which — for us, anyway — isn’t such a bad way to kick off an evening.
It’s Cazadores’s first foray into a flavored product, which was a big decision for master distiller José Miguel Escobar, but the tropical, leaning into funky-tiki territory flavor of pineapple lends itself well to the earthy, bright-highlands nature of their tequila. The nose is immediately that of super-ripe, dribbly-juicy pineapple with toasty agave aromatics just beneath the surface. It’s a little floral, too, and gently sweet on the palate without going overboard into cloying territory.
It’s perfectly lovely served by itself on ice — or, if you will, shaken up in a pineapple-punchy riff on the classic ‘rita. Grab a bottle at Montauk Liquors & Wines and tropical-up your weekend starting tonight…
Pineapple Margarita
Ingredients
- 2 oz CAZADORES Pineapple Infused Tequila
- 1 oz fresh lime juice
- 1/2 oz agave syrup, or to taste
Directions
- In a shaker with ice, combine all liquid ingredients.
- Shake until well-chilled and frothy, about 10 to 15 seconds.
- Strain into an ice-filled double rocks glass.
- Garnish with the pineapple wedge and serve. Cheers!
