If you walk into any bar in the world and order a Tequila Sunrise, the bartender will likely serve you a drink consisting of cheap alcohol, ultra-processed orange juice, and pomegranate devoid grenadine. However, the discerning home liquor sorceror will surely require something a little more refined and infinitely more satisfying from their mixed drink. So, to quench that craven urge for the best the cocktails in the world, let’s mix up a glass of the Majestic Tequila Sunrise.
A Majestic Tequila Sunrise
Equipment
- 1 311ml (10.5oz) Hurricane Glass
- 1 Cocktail Umbrella (Optional)
Ingredients
- 100g Ice
- 50ml Silver Tequila (100% Agave)
- 100ml Fresh Orange Juice
- 15ml Grenadine
- 1 Cherry (to garnish)
- 1 Slice of Lime (to garnish)
Instructions
- Take your carefully selected cocktail glass and add 100g of the finest Ice in your household
- Pour in 50ml of mid-range Silver Tequila
- Add 100ml of freshly squeezed Orange Juice and give the whole thing a quick stir
- Next, decant 15ml of Grenadine syrup into a small jug and in one swift motion, pour the whole lot directly into the centre of the glass. You should see the grenadine sink to the bottom and disperse a little as a result
- If you now have a prefect sunrise effect, you can skip this step. However, if some of the grenadine has pooled at the bottom (this will more likely happen with a regular highball glass) take the cocktail stirrer and gently agitate the syrup with a light circular motion, while keeping the orange half as still as possible
- Once satisfied with the sunrise, garnish with an umbrella, cherry and a slice of lime, then sup away at your leisure
Nutrition
The Finer Points of the Tequila Sunrise
The Best Tequila for a Sunrise
It’s easy to just reach for the bottom shelf, sombrero wearing, bottle when planning your sunrise, but that would not do justice to your home-crafted drink. As with many Tequila-based cocktails, you will require a 100% agave spirit in order to get the flavour notes you truly need. Due to the fruity nature of the Sunrise, you should opt for a silver tequila as opposed to a reposado and something mid-range rather than a top-class spirit. Through research and experimentation, I have selected Olmeca Altos Plata as my tequila of choice for general cocktail making chicanery.
The Purest Orange Juice
In the world of high-class cocktail making, not all juices will cut the mustard. Many folks will eschew quality in favour of convenience, but their cocktails generally suffer because of it. Therefore, when making a Tequila Sunrise, I can only recommend using fresh oranges that you have squashed yourself. For this, you should acquire the big and juicy kind of orange, with the Valencia variety a popular favourite if you can get your hands on them.
Real Grenadine
You’d think that a pomegranate syrup would contain the one fruity thing it’s supposed to be made of, but no, it’s not that simple. These days, most bottled grenadine is nothing more than a run of the mill sugar syrup with some bright red food colouring thrown in. Therefore, to get the real stuff, you’ll either need to shop around for some top-quality merchandise, or make it yourself. For those going the whole hog, you can find a recipe for making the red stuff yourself right here!
The Best Glass for a Tequila Sunrise
Most folks in the wild internet of things will tell you to use a no-nonsense highball glass for your Tequila Sunrise. However, there remain a few subtleties that you should consider when making the drink.
Firstly, the grenadine will want to pool at the bottom and essentially see that first straw-ful consisting mostly of sugar. So, you want something with a relatively wide bottom to it that will help the syrup to disperse into the lower half of the drink.
Secondly, the Tequila Sunrise looks like a goddam sunset and imbibing it will resurrect wistful memories of an exotic beach holiday. So, you want something fancy that will look gaudy but elegant and hold its own with an umbrella and a cherry in it.
Thirdly, it needs to hold approximately 160ml of liquid and 100g of ice without overflowing or looking half empty. With all of these considerations in mind, I have identified a 311ml (10.5oz) stemmed tulip shaped glass as the perfect vessel for a tequila sunrise.
Riffs on the Tequila Sunrise
Now that your have the basics down, you can toddle off into the sunset and start pottering around with the chemistry of the Tequila Sunrise. For starters, you can replace the tequila with any other clear base spirit that sits around the 40% mark. With white Rum, Vodka, and, at a push, Gin providing the likely contenders, and Triple Sec, Schnapps, Soju and strong Sake providing viable alternatives.
In addition, you can substitute the grenadine for any other coloured sugar syrup that is thick enough to sink to the bottom of the glass. Strawberry syrup will provide the same effect as the grenadine, while something left-field like butterfly pea syrup will introduce a stark new colour palette to proceedings.
Furthermore, you can also try playing around with the fruit juice, just don’t use anything too thick as it will compete with the syrup. Freshly squeezed lychee juice will make for some interesting colour schemes, while something like pineapple juice will maintain the original look of the drink. In addition, you can eschew fruit juice for something a little more refreshing like soda water, or spark a little more life into it with some ginger ale.
So, armed with a bounty of new knowledge, the time has come for you to saddle forth and step into the realm of colourful cocktails.
Good luck!
Leave a Reply