Tag Archives: tequila cocktails

Drink of the Week: Beergarita

“Why not combine the two best drinks of summer into one delicious cocktail?” must surely have been the reasoning behind the easy-to-make and even easier-to-drink Beergarita. As its name implies, it’s basically a margarita mixed with beer, minus the fresh lime juice and Cointreau.

Beer + tequila + limeade = instant beach party.

Beer + tequila + limeade = instant beach party.

Blake first learned of its existence during Stampede week, when a co-worker let him in on the secret to a summer holiday, day-at-the-beach perma-buzz. (Don’t let its neon colour turn you off; it’s just the limeade.) The beauty of this drink is you can sip it like a margarita or guzzle it like a beer, your choice.

Beergarita

  • 1 can frozen limeade
  • Bottle of tequila
  • 3 12-oz cans of beer
  • Ice

Into a pitcher dump the limeade. Fill the empty limeade cannister with tequila then pour it in. Add the beer and stir like you’re making juice to dissolve the limeade and combine the ingredients. Add ice to chill and serve over ice in a rocks glass (or plastic party cup).

Beergarita

Perfect for sundown-sipping on the dock.

Drink of the Week: Pickled Cowboy

Yeehaw! The Calgary Stampede has arrived, and with it a 10-day pass to do a lot of drinking. Some yokels might drink beer out of a sweaty cowboy boot, or sidle up to the bar for shooters with raunchy names like “Cowboy Cocksucker,” but not you, right? You’re classy. I get it. So I have just the drink for you: a Pickled Cowboy.

The Pickled Cowboy is my new favourite tequila cocktail, and perfect for sipping during the Calgary Stampede. Drink a couple and you, too, will be pickled. Yeehaw!

The Pickled Cowboy is my new fave tequila cocktail, and perfect for sipping during the Stampede. Drink a couple and you, too, will be pickled. Yeehaw!

I was introduced to this sublime drink last summer in San Antonio, Tex. when I mentioned I like tequila. There are lots of tequila-swilling cowboys down yonder in Texas, and judging from this recipe, they like them some pickling, too. Hot pickled okra juice is the preferred ingredient to pull off this cocktail properly (you can buy jars of delicious pickled okra in most Walmarts in southern U.S. states). Failing that, use the juice of hot pickled beans, or similar.

As for the taste of my new fave tequila bevvy? Not unlike a spicy, somewhat pickled margarita, with a dash of sweet, fresh-squeezed O.J. that makes all the difference. And remember, “Pickled Cowboy” is a play on words — you will become what you drink after a couple of these bad (cow)boys during the Calgary Stampede. Giddy up!

Giddy up and go Stampeding after downing a couple Pickled Cowboys.

Giddy up and go Stampeding after downing a couple Pickled Cowboys.

Pickled Cowboy

  • 2 oz reposado tequila
  • 3/4 oz fresh lime juice
  • 1/2 oz hot pickled okra juice*
  • 1/2 oz agave syrup
  • 1/4 oz fresh orange juice
  • Salt for rimming glass
  • Pickled okra* and orange wedge garnish

In a cocktail shaker, combine tequila, lime juice, hot pickled okra juice, agave syrup and orange juice and top with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into a salt-rimmed rocks glass filled with fresh crushed ice. Garnish with an orange wedge and a pickled okra*.

*Pickled okra is not available in Canada. Instead, use the juice from a jar of hot pickled beans (or similar), and sub in a pickled bean or asparagus garnish.

— Recipe courtesy San Antonio, Tex. resident Annice Hill

Drink of the Week: Coconut-chili margarita

I am always on the hunt for a good margarita, which is why I love Anejo. Calgary’s new-ish Mexican restaurant (#2, 2116 – 4 St. S.W.) is a stylish taqueria that claims to have the best margaritas in YYC. Take it from me: they are good. Now, imagine your favourite classic marg with a kick — and a whisper of coconut — and you’ve got yourself a coconut-chili margarita.

This amazing creation has been margarita-of-the-month at Anejo all March so if you want to try one there — tick-tock — you’d better hurry. I was able to sample this zesty and tropical twist on my go-to summer sip last week during a lovely media dinner hosted by Tourism Victoria. Doesn’t my cocktail look fetching in front of the beautiful flower arrangement shipped in from Victoria?

This drink is awesome and I love that it's rimmed with coconut flakes!

This drink is awesome and I love that it’s rimmed with coconut flakes!

The only drawback is the tiny rocks glass it’s served in — you will be wishing for one of those fishbowl-sized Mexican margarita glasses!

Coconut-chili margarita

  • 1 oz Cazadores blanco tequila
  • 1/2 oz triple sec
  • 3/4 oz fresh lime juice
  • 1/4 oz fresh lemon juice
  • 1/2 oz habanero coconut syrup
  • Coconut sugar rim

Rim a rocks glass with a mix of sugar and coconut flakes, then fill it with ice. In a shaker combine tequila, triple sec, lime and lemon juice, and coconut syrup, and then shake with ice. Strain into the rocks glass.

— Recipe courtesy Jeff Hines, Anjeo