My Tequila Valentine
Shake ∙ 3 min ∙ 16.5% ABV ∙
My Tequila Valentine shakes tequila blanco with a red bitter, rosso and dry vermouth and blood orange juice, served over ice. Bittersweet and bright, with a silky citrus body cut by herbal depth, finishing crisp and lightly bracing over slow-melting ice.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Shake all ingredients with ice: Tequila blanco 45 mlRed bitter 10 mlRosso vermouth 10 mlDry vermouth 10 mlBlood orange juice 45 ml
- Strain into the ice-filled glass (preferably over a large cube or chunk of block ice)
- Garnish with an orange wheel
Tips
- Shake hard and long enough to fully chill the juice-heavy mix, then strain promptly so the citrus doesn't oxidize.
- Use a large ice cube or block ice in the glass — it slows dilution against the volume of juice already in the shake.
- Pre-chill the glass so the strained drink doesn't lose its edge before the ice inside can take over.
- Juice the blood orange fresh if possible — bottled versions run flatter and shift the balance sweeter.
History
My Tequila Valentine is a bittersweet tequila cocktail adapted from a recipe by Amy Stewart, author of The Drunken Botanist, who built it around blood orange juice, Campari, and a split of sweet and dry vermouth as an alternative for drinkers who like tequila but dislike Margaritas. The name plays on its Valentine's-season blood-orange color and its role as a tequila drink built specifically as a departure from the Margarita template.
The Margarita itself, the drink this recipe was devised to riff on, has a disputed origin generally placed in Mexico in the late 1930s or 1940s. The most repeated account credits Carlos "Danny" Herrera of Rancho La Gloria near Tijuana with creating it around 1938 for showgirl Marjorie King, adapting her name into "margarita," though rival claimants include Danny Negrete in Tehuacán, Don Carlos Orozco in Ensenada, and Dallas socialite Margarita Sames, among others. My Tequila Valentine departs from that lineage by replacing the Margarita's orange liqueur and lime with Campari, vermouth, and blood orange juice, turning a citrus-forward sour into a bitter, aperitivo-style variation.
