Christmas in Jalisco

For this collaboration we wanted to make something seasonal, elegant, and delicious, so we came up with this Christmas in Jalisco cocktail just for you. We initially wanted to make a simple variation on a Negroni using tequila, however, as we got deeper into the creation process we found ourselves wanting something more extravagant and packed full of flavor.

We started with a Reposado Tequila as we wanted to remove some of the harsher notes in a blanco but didn’t want it to be too smooth or oaky, and from there we built your standard Negroni, with Campari and white vermouth. It was delicious and if you want to keep it simple you can stop right here and enjoy a delicious cocktail, however, we wanted to go next level, and to help us with that we bought two different syrups and two bitters. For the syrups, we decided to use some festive flavors and bought in some white chocolate to add that cacao butter taste and some cranberry for its sweet-tart combination and obvious season influence. Finally, we added in some chocolate bitters for a richer chocolate flavor and some spiced orange bitters as we felt the cocktail would really just pop with some orange and spice.

Recipe:

• 1 ounce Tequila Arette Reposado
• 1 ounce Campari
• 1 ounce blanc vermouth
• ½ ounce Monin white chocolate syrup
• ½ ounce Monin cranberry syrup
• 2 dashes chocolate bitters
• 2 dashes orange bitters

Method:

1. Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice
2. Shake to chill and combine ingredients
3. Strain into Waterford Lismore Evolution Tumbler over an ice cube or fresh ice
4. Garnish & Enjoy!