Cocktail & Other Recipes By Spirit Tequila & Mezcal Cocktails

Teal-quila Sunrise

Written by
Liquor.com
Updated 05/03/21
Teal-quila Sunrise cocktail layered in a highball glass with red on bottom and blue on top, garnished with two raspberries wrapped in a lemon peel
Image:

Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

The Tequila Sunrise is a 1970s cocktail with three ingredients—tequila, grenadine and orange juice—that is served unmixed to preserve its unique layered effect. The drink was especially popular during the decade (and also enjoyed a nice run during the ’80s), helped in part by its unofficial sponsorship of The Rolling Stones’ 1972 tour. The Teal-quila Sunrise is a variation on the original that’s as tasty as it is colorful.

The Teal-quila Sunrise takes a few liberties from the classic while remaining similar in style. It subs raspberry syrup for grenadine, uses Grand Marnier orange liqueur in place of orange juice, and it achieves its blue hue from a dash of blue curaçao. Fresh lemon juice balances the sweetness with a dose of tart citrus.

The recipe requires DIY raspberry syrup, but don’t worry: No special skills required. If you can purchase raspberries and sugar, you can make raspberry syrup. The fruit is muddled to release its juices and then mixed with simple syrup and strained. The resulting liquid is bright red, fragrant and flavorful, and it makes a great addition to cocktails, from this drink to others like the Clover Club.

The syrup is poured into the glass first, creating a layer for the other ingredients—turned blue from the curaçao—to rest on. The eye-catching cocktail is then garnished with fresh berries and a lemon peel for extra panache.

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Ingredients

  • 1/2 ounce raspberry syrup*

  • 2 ounces blanco tequila

  • 3/4 ounce Grand Marnier

  • 1/4 ounce blue curaçao

  • 3/4 ounce lemon juice, freshly squeezed

  • Garnish: lemon twist

  • Garnish: 2 raspberries

Steps

  1. Pour the raspberry syrup into a highball glass and fill with crushed ice.

  2. Add the tequila, Grand Marnier, blue curaçao and lemon juice into a shaker with ice, and shake until well-chilled.

  3. Strain into the prepared glass over the crushed ice.

  4. Garnish with a lemon twist and two raspberries on a skewer.

*Raspberry syrup: In a small glass, muddle 6 raspberries. Add 6 oz simple syrup and stir. Fine-strain into a separate glass to remove the seeds.