Tasty Tequila Drinks That Aren't Margaritas

Certain cocktails often give specific types of alcohol a bad rep, and for tequila, it's the margarita. Often an overly sweet mess, the margarita has been claimed by white people to celebrate a holiday that they're not quite sure the significance of, but hey, nobody's gonna turn down an excuse to get drunk.

For Mexicans, Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of victory over the French at the battle of Puebla. Led by general Ignacio Zaragoza, the Mexican army was able to force the retreat of a French army which the rest of the world thought to be unbeatable. For many Americans, Cinco de Mayo has a different significance. It means donning a sombrero, shaking a maraca, and attempting to dance merengue with an exotic woman who's out of your league. But it doesn't have to mean a sugar-saturated, salt-rimmed, slushy drink.

Tequila was the one of the first indigenous liquors to the Americas and has held its popularity ever since its creation in the 16th century near the town of, you guessed it, Tequila. Made from fermented agave, tequila has a very distinct, strong taste, one that people often try to mask with sweetness (see margaritas). However, it's a surprisingly versatile liquor that pairs well with multiple ingredients, and one you can make a lot of really good cocktails with it. These tequila cocktails will not only impress your friends far more than a margarita slushie that you threw together in your blender could, but will also make you feel like a true master of the art.

Don't get us wrong, we're a fan of the ubiquitous cocktail, but variety is the Adobo of life. Just remember, if you ever find yourself with some Patron, you don't have to make 7/11 soda slurpee of cocktails. So get a little inventive this weekend, and dare to think outside of the frozen margarita machine: Here are recipes for the best Tequila Drinks That Aren't Margaritas.

15. Mayan Mule

Ingredients:

2 parts Milagro Reposado Tequila

0.5 parts Lime Juice

2 dashes Angostura Bitters

3 parts Ginger Beer

Mint Sprigs and Lime Wheel, for garnish

Method: Place 2-3 ice cubes in a Collins glass. Add fresh squeezed lime juice, Milagro, ginger beer and bitters. Stir and garnish with mint sprigs and a lime wheel.

14. Little Dragon

Ingredients:

3/4 ounce Tequila Don Julio Blanco

1/4 ounce Green Pepper Jalapeño Hot Sauce

1/4 ounce Agave nectar

3/4 ounce Fresh Lime Juice

6 ounces Lager

Pinch of Celery Salt

Method: Combine Tequila Don Julio Blanco, green pepper jalapeño hot sauce, agave nectar, lime juice and celery salt into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a highball glass then top with six ounces of lager. Garnish with a lime wheel.

13. Cherry Smash

Ingredients:

1 part Sauza Blue Silver 100% Agave Tequila

1/3 part JDK & Sons O3 Premium Orange Liqueur

1/4 part agave nectar

2/3 part fresh lime juice

1.5 parts club soda

8 Bing cherries, pitted and stemmed

Method: Rim your glasses; run a lemon wedge around the rim of your glass and dip in sugar. In a shaker filled with ice, combine pomegranate juice, coconut water, Tequila, liqueurs and lemon juice. Shake and pour into prepared glasses. Garnish with a lemon wedge. If you're feeling extra ambitous, add fresh pomegranate seeds to the cocktail.

12. Texas Two-Step

Ingredients:

1.5 oz. Tequila Don Julio Reposado

.75 oz. Texas grapefruit shrub

.25 oz. Yellow chartreuse

.25 oz Pineapple juice

Squeeze wildflower honey

4 drops fennel bitters

Pinch of Alaskan smoked sea salt

Method: Add ingredients to glass cocktail shaker. Stir so that the honey is mixed with liquid. Add ice and shake. Pour into a double old fashion glass over fresh ice. [Recipe courtesy of The Smith.]

11. Chocolate Congelado

Ingredients:

1.5 oz. Herradura Anejo

1 oz. Mexican bitter chocolate paste

2 dashes Xocolatl bitters

1.5 oz. heavy cream

Method: Place all ingredients excluding the heavy cream in to a cocktail shaker filled with cubed ice. Shake hard and strain over ice in to a chilled coupe glass. In a separate shaker place the heavy cream and cubed ice, shake hard to aerate then pour carefully over a bar spoon to layer the cream over the coffee. Garnish with a dust of nutmeg and a cinnamon stick.

10. Peligroso Sangre

Ingredients:

1.5 oz of Peligroso Cinnamon Tequila

.5 oz. of Cointreau

2 oz. of red wine,

1.5 oz of gingerale

Orange twist (for garnish)

Method: Put all ingredients in shaker. Shake well. Serve in chilled cocktail glass.

9. QuiQui

Ingredients:

1.5 oz. of Qui Tequila

.5 oz. premier cru de cognac – Frapin

1 oz. of mango nectar

.5 oz. of fresh squeezed orange

Splash of triple sec

Splash of fresh lemon and lime

Method: Put all ingredients in shaker. Shake well. Pour directly into tall glass. Garnish with large orange twist.

8. Veracruzana

Ingredients:

2 parts Milagro Reposado

0.75 parts Agave Nectar

1 part Fresh Lime Juice

4 Pineapple Chunks

2 Basil Leaves

Method: Muddle pineapple and basil leaves in a shaker. Add remaining ingredients and ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a rocks glass filled with fresh ice. Garnish with pineapple and basil.

7. Spanish Fashion

Ingredients:

2 Parts Maestro Dobel

.5 Parts Sweet Vermouth

Dash bitters

Maraschino cherry

Method: Shake and strain. Pour into an iced mixing glass, and garnish with a Maraschino cherry.

6. Spiced Passion

Ingredients:

2 oz. of Peligroso Cinnamon Tequila

3 oz. Horchata

5 oz. of Finest Call Passion Fruit

Cinnamon stick (for garnish)

Method: Put all ingredients in shaker. Shake well. Serve in chilled cocktail glass.

5. Quibiscus

Ingredients:

1.5 oz. Qui Tequila

**3 oz. hibiscus syrup

1 oz. triple sec

5 oz. fresh squeezed lemon & lime

Method: Shake vigorously. Serve on the rocks with an orange twist.

**For hibiscus syrup (for about 8 drinks): Gather 1 cup of dried hibiscus flower, 3 cups of water, peel of 1 orange, and 1 cup of sugar. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 25 minutes. Let stand for 1 hour off heat. Strain into carafe or other container.

4. Sangre Maria

Ingredients:

2 oz. Herradura Silver

.5 oz. pickle juice

2 oz. Tomato juice

.5 oz. Orange juice

.5 lemon juice

.5 oz. lime juice

Large bar spoon of horseradish

.5 oz. Cholula sauce

4 large dashes of Tabasco

.5 oz. Worcestershire sauce

.5 oz. red wine

Method: Combine all ingredients together in a large cocktail shaker, stir and strain into a large glass filled with cubed ice. Garnish with a cayenne salted pickle and a lemon wedge.

3. Black Diamond

Ingredients:

2 oz. Maestro Dobel Tequila

.5 oz. agave nectar

.5 oz. fresh lime juice

Black salt (for rim)

Method: Rim cocktail glass with black salt. Shake and strain. Pour into an iced mixing glass.

2. Pomegranate Paloma

Ingredients:

2 parts Hornitos Plata Tequila

.5 part Lime Juice

.5 part Pomegranate Juice

.5 part Grapefruit Juice

.5 part Agave Nectar

Soda Water

Method: Pour all ingredients, except soda water, into a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a pilsner glass filled with ice. Top with soda and garnish with a mint sprig.

1. El Diablo

Ingredients:

1.5 oz. Tequila Don Julio Blanco

3/4 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

.5 oz. Ginger Syrup*

Ginger Ale for Top

Red Blackcurrant Liqueur for Float

Lime Wheel for Garnish

Method: Combine Tequila Don Julio Blanco, fresh lime juice, ginger syrup into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well. Strain contents into a Collins glass over ice. Top with ginger ale. Float red black currant liqueur. Garnish with lime wheel.

*To create ginger syrup, combine 2 parts white sugar an ginger root. Strip off the skin of one ginger root. Place in vegetable juicer. Add 2 parts white sugar to 1 part ginger juice by volume.