Mezcal Margarita

Name: Mezcal Margarita
Prep time: 6 min
Cook time: 14 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 1 serves
Ingredients: 60 ml Mezcal; 20 ml Cointreau; 25 ml Lime Juice; 2 drops Saline; Tajín Clásico; 1 Lime Wedge; 1 strip Orange Peel; 130 g Ice; 1 Large Ice Cube

Not a sweet cocktail. A sophisticated caballero version.

John DrummondWritten 18 October 2026

A margarita in a heavy rocks glass over one large ice cube, red-orange Tajín on half the outside rim, a halved lime and a curl of orange peel beside it on a dark stone bench

Prep6min

Cook14min

All up20min

Serves1

LevelEasy

Mise en place

What you need

Tick each one off as it goes in.

60 mlMezcalRey Campero Espadín, or Del Maguey Chichicapa
20 mlCointreau
25 mlLime Juicepressed just before you shake, pulp strained out
2 dropsSaline20 g fine sea salt dissolved in 80 g water, kept in a dropper bottle
—Tajín Clásicofor half the rim
1Lime Wedgefor the rim only
1 stripOrange Peelvery little pith
130 gIcehard, from the freezer, for shaking
1Large Ice Cubeabout 4.5 cm

Makes 1 serves

I love all things Mexican, and the margarita is no exception, even though nobody really knows where it came from.

I make mine with mezcal rather than tequila. It’s not as harsh, and it adds a dynamic flavour layer. I don’t add sugar to anything, so this isn’t a sweet cocktail. It’s a sophisticated caballero version: caballero as in gentleman.

Tajín instead of salt, and only on half the rim. That gives you the choice of whether to take it, and how much, as you drink.

No agave syrup. The 20 ml of Cointreau is the only sweetness, about 4.6 g of sugar: a touch drier than a classic margarita, and it doesn’t need more. If your limes are fierce, half a teaspoon of LIGHT agave is the most I’d go to. Never dark; its caramel muddies the smoke.

The mezcal: Rey Campero Espadín, ideally the 48% bottling (some Australian stock is 43%, and the same recipe works). Del Maguey Chichicapa is the rounder alternative; Mezcal Vago Espadín and Montelobos Espadín work at the same measures. Del Maguey Vida and Ilegal Joven are smokier mixing bottles and taste thinner here.

Two drops of saline go in the drink. That’s about 20 mg of salt, far below tasting salty. It takes the hard edge off the lime and makes the bare side of the glass taste finished. Use a dropper, never a spoon. It’s a strong drink, nearly three standard drinks.

This was put through a three-way blind review (Claude, Grok and Codex) in October 2026 and hasn’t been made in this exact form yet.

The method

Six moves.

Saline, Make
Once, and it keeps. 20 g fine sea salt into 80 g warm water; stir until it’s clear. Into a dropper bottle.
Glass, Freeze
A heavy double rocks glass and the large cube into the freezer for 15 minutes.
Rim, Half
Tajín in a thin line on a dry saucer. With the cut face of the lime wedge, wet a 2–3 mm band on the outside of half the rim only. Roll it through the Tajín, tap hard, and wipe the ends and the inner lip. The inside stays dry. Large cube in, sitting below the rim.
Shake
Mezcal, Cointreau, lime and the two drops of saline into a shaker with the hard ice. Shake hard for 12–14 seconds, until the tin is painfully cold.
Strain
Fine-strain onto the cube. No more ice.
Orange, Express
Pinch the orange peel over the surface, skin side down, and throw it away. No lime wheel. Drink from whichever side you like.