Tequila cocktail recipe cards not just for Cinco de Mayo
On a dark and rainy day about a month ago, I posted a review of a deck of cocktail recipe cards with a summer theme. Today, a mostly sunny and mild day in May, I’m posting this review of a deck of recipe cards for tequila cocktails—the day before Cinco de Mayo.
Truth is, tequila doesn’t need a holiday to be celebrated. (Especially when a lot of Americans not of Mexican heritage [myself included] probably don’t know the full history and significance of Cinco de Mayo.) And it also doesn’t always need to be enjoyed as a shooter or the base for an overly sweet frozen green monstrosity served in a plastic boot. (No judgment here—that kind of drink serves a purpose.)
No, I picked the day before Cinco de Mayo to post this review because I procrastinated and didn’t post it sooner and, of course, “news peg” FTW.
Anyway, this card deck, officially titled Tequila Cocktail Cards A–Z: The Ultimate Drink Recipe Dictionary Deck, was sent to me by the publisher, Adams Media, for review. (The set came out in March and costs about $17).
Lovely design
As with the Summer Sips deck I reviewed in April, Tequila A–Z is a collection of beautifully designed full-color two-sided matte cards. Each card features a cocktail recipe on one side and the photo of the drink on the other. The name of the cocktail helpfully appears on both sides.
The deck also has a short but useful “Bartender’s Guide” booklet that explains basic bar and drinks terminology and a sliver of background on tequila, which by Mexican law must be distilled from the blue agave plant in one of five states in Mexico.
The cards are organized in the flip-top deck literally from A to Z, divided into five tabs: A–E, F–J, K–O, P–T, and U–Z.
As I said with the Summer Sips deck, I like bound books just fine but recipes on cards are easy and convenient to refer to hands-free while you’re prepping drinks for you and your guests.
Speaking of… let’s discuss the recipes a bit.
Where are the margaritas?
A word of warning: you won’t find all the margarita recipes under K–O, where the “M” drinks are (you’ll find some there, but not all).
Weird, right?
OK, here is why.
The cards are alphabetized according to whatever happens to be the first word in the cocktail name. So the margarita recipes are filed based on each variant’s name; e.g., Iced Margarita Slush is filed under the “F–J” tab and Swim-Up Bar Margarita is found under “P–T.” Even the Classic Margarita doesn’t appear with the other “M” cocktails—instead, you can locate it under the “A–E” tab, LOL.
I sort of get it. The deck had to follow an organizational standard. But my neurodivergent brain found this weird.
Here is the easy fix for those of us who might need it: We can just refile the margarita recipes under the K-O tab, where several variant margs do live.
OK, enough nit-picking.
Why George Clooney appears in this deck
I discovered many recipes for cocktails I’d never heard of, which is always really fun for a nerd like me.
For example, the Cactus Bite is made with reposado tequila (reposado means “rested,” a.k.a. aged) and Drambuie, which is a liqueur made with Scotch whisky, my fave whisk(e)y.
Also, I can’t imbibe the Danny Ocean (it contains grapefruit juice, which is a no-no for me) but any drink named after a character played by George Clooney (in the Oceans movies) must get a mention in this blog because
Clooney is so effing cool
SEO juice, baby!
Clooney is also the cofounder of a premium tequila brand called Casamigos, which he and his partner sold to beverage giant Diageo back in 2017 for a bahmillion dollars (or thereabouts).
Anyway, if you’re not barred from having grapefruit juice, try the Danny Ocean and then tell George what you think.
So the fun part with these reviews is I get to stop at the liquor store and pick up ingredients to mix a drink I haven’t tried before. In this case, I grabbed some coffee liqueur and gave this simple recipe a try. It’s called Ixtapa. (Reprinted with permission.)
Ixtapa
1 ounce blanco tequila (I used Espolòn)
2 ounces Kahlúa Coffee Liqueur (disclosure: I got a bottom-shelf brand I’d rather not mention, LOL)
1 maraschino cherry
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add tequila and Kahlúa.
Shake and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with cherry.
So how was this? If you like coffee, you’ll enjoy this, as I (mostly) did. E, my spouse, didn’t love it (“I don’t think I’d have this again.”) Maybe it would have tasted better with actual Kahlúa and not a rail knockoff.
I liked it but it is the type of cocktail that, no matter how delicious, is best kept to one serving for the day. (Another drink in this category for me is the white Russian—I love them but knocking back a few would be a terrible idea for a 50-year-old).
So maybe after the tequila-and-caffeine jolt of the Ixtapa, you can move on to something else made from his deck, like a tequila Collins, which is what it sounds like—a Tom Collins with blanco tequila swapped in for gin.
In sum… look, these decks aren’t for pros. They’re for annoying boozehounds and party show-offs like me. If you know someone like that who needs an awesome birthday gift, get them a shiny bottle of Casamigos and this deck with the Danny Ocean card dog-eared (or just flagged with a Post-it note; don’t crease the lovely card stock).
Click here to buy: Tequila Cocktail Cards A–Z: The Ultimate Drink Recipe Dictionary Deck, Adams Media/Simon & Schuster, 2024, $16.99
Note: Links to Amazon are affiliate links. If you click and buy the cards or something else, SITMW gets a small commission at no cost to you.
