Spiked Blood Orange Seltzer

When I think of wintery drinks, tequila doesn’t automatically come to mind. Tequila mostly comes to mind when I uncover repressed memories of adolescence. Having said that however, winter is when citrus is at it’s best and tequila makes for a delicious pairing. This cocktail does a great job of showcasing the wonderful balance between the sweet, sour and bitter qualities that you can find in freshly juiced blood oranges.

This is a nice easy drinking cocktail where you can knock back a few without feeling too guilty. For those who have a real love for tequila you can increase the amount of tequila to your liking.

Cocktail Techniques

If you juice the blood oranges yourself be sure to pass the juice through a fine strainer to remove any fruit pulp. Do the same for the lime juice. Since we are adding a carbonated component in the form of sparkling water to finish the drink, we want the liquid to be as clear as possible. Solids like those found in juices inhibit the effects of carbonation.

For the same reason we’re going to chill all of our non-carbonated drink components together with plenty of ice so all liquids are as cold as possible before adding the sparkling water. Carbonation is also inhibited by the heat.

The addition of a pinch of salt does a lot to most drinks to make flavours more pronounced and balance out other flavours. It could be because I associate tequila with margaritas and their characteristic salt rims but it really is one of the spirits that most benefits from a bit of salt. Don’t go overboard, the tiniest of pinches will do, you by no means want this to taste salty.

Ingredients

1oz silver tequila
2oz blood orange juice
1oz lime juice
The tiniest pinch of salt
Few drops of orange Angostura bitters
1-2oz Aranciata rossa, blood orange sparkling water
(regular sparkling water is an adequate replacement)

Method

1. Combine the tequila, blood orange juice, lime juice and salt in a glass and add plenty of ice. Stir until well chilled, roughly 20 seconds.

2. Strain through a fine meshed strainer into a champagne flute and top with 3 drops of orange angostura bitters and the sparkling water.

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