Cocktail & Other Recipes By Spirit Tequila & Mezcal Cocktails

Bright Lights

By
Kate Dingwall
Kate Dingwall
Kate Dingwall
Kate Dingwall is a freelance writer whose work focuses on food, drinks and travel. She is based in Toronto.
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Updated 05/16/23
Bright Lights cocktail

Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

At Leyenda, the Brooklyn bar co-owned by Ivy Mix, extra splashes of sparkling wine left at the bottom of a bottle of bubbly are saved and turned into a wine-based syrup. It's a way to cut down on waste, and allows bartenders to create high-end cocktail ingredients from what may otherwise go down the drain.

“I particularly love making syrups with bubbles that have gone flat—cava, Champagne, prosecco and so forth,” says Mix. “Though I tend toward cava and Champagnes.”

Leyenda's focus is on the spirits of Central and South America, and this cocktail employs both blanco tequila and sotol, a spiritual sibling to tequila/mezcal that is made from the desert spoon plant. Verjus, a highly acidic juice made by pressing unripe grapes, lends a burst of brightness, while twists from two different types of citrus add visual punch to the drink.

Ingredients

  • 1 ounce blanco tequila

  • 1/2 ounce sotol (such as Sotol Por Siempre)

  • 1/2 ounce verjus blanc

  • 1/2 ounce rosé cava syrup (recipe below)

  • 1 dash celery bitters

  • Garnish: orange twist

  • Garnish: Grapefruit twist

Steps

  1. Add the tequila, sotol, verjus, syrup and bitters into a mixing glass with ice and stir until well-chilled.

  2. Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice.

  3. Garnish with an orange twist and a grapefruit twist.

How to Make Rosé Cava Syrup

Add 3 cups rosé cava and 1 cup raw acacia honey into a pot over low heat and stir until honey is fully dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool before using. Tightly covered and refrigerated, rosé cava syrup will keep for up to 1 month.