Chimayó Cocktail

Chimayó Cocktail

Type	Mixed drink
Primary alcohol by volume	Tequila
Served	On the rocks; poured over ice
Standard garnish	slice of unpeeled apple
Standard drinkware	Highball glass
Commonly used ingredients	1½ oz Tequila 1 oz apple cider 1/4 oz lemon juice 1/4 oz creme de cassis
Preparation	Pour the tequila and unfiltered apple cider into glass over ice. Add the lemon juice and creme de cassis and stir. Garnish and serve.

The Chimayó cocktail was created by Arturo Jaramillo, owner of the Rancho de Chimayó restaurant in Chimayó, New Mexico in 1965, the Chimayó Cocktail is a tequila and apple cider based drink. Legend has it that Jaramillo was looking for use for the apples that are plentiful in the Chimayó valley when he stumbled onto what would soon become the signature drink of his restaurant.

Preparation and serving

The Chimayó Cocktail is created by mixing 1½ oz tequila with 1 oz unfiltered apple cider, 1/4 oz fresh lemon juice and 1/4 oz creme de cassis over ice. According to Eric Felten author of How’s Your Drink? Cocktails, Culture, and the Art of Drinking the touch of casis...gives the drink a pleasant, pale purplish hue and the sweetness needed to balance the tart lemon taste.

Nomenclature

Cider in this article is used in the North American sense to mean a non-alcoholic apple product; not as used in the rest of the English-speaking world, where cider unequivocally refers to an alcoholic drink. See apple cider.

References

• How’s Your Drink? Cocktails, Culture, and the Art of Drinking by Eric Felten, Surrey Books 1997
• Food of Santa Fe International