Pomegranates come into season here right about the time the evenings finally drop below ninety, and the two things belong together. This is a drink for that stretch, when it’s still warm enough to sit outside but the light’s going earlier every week.
It’s built on Tequila Ocho Plata, which is worth the money and worth explaining. Carlos Camarena and the late Tomas Estes started it in 2008 to prove terroir exists in tequila, bottling by single field, the way a winemaker bottles by vineyard, so the label tells you which ranch the agave came from and what year it was harvested. Two bottles from different fields taste noticeably different. If you can’t find it, Espolòn Blanco or Cazadores Blanco will both do the job for less, and Fortaleza will do it beautifully for more. Don’t use anything with sugar or coloring added.
Fresh pomegranate juice is the other thing that matters. The bottled stuff is fine in a pinch but it’s sweeter and flatter. One good pomegranate gives you about three ounces, which is enough for two drinks.
Granada Ocho
Ingredients – Makes one drink
- 2 oz Tequila Ocho Plata
- 1 1/2 oz fresh pomegranate juice
- 3/4 oz fresh lime juice
- 1/2 oz honey syrup (see note)
- 2 dashes mole bitters, optional but good
- Pomegranate seeds and a lime wheel, to finish
Honey syrup
- Stir 2 parts honey into 1 part hot water until it dissolves. Cool it. Keeps two weeks in the fridge.
Instructions
- Put a rocks glass in the freezer while you work. Cold glass, better drink.
- Cut the pomegranate in half and juice it like a citrus, on a hand press or a reamer. Strain out the pulp. If you’re seeding it by hand, do it in a bowl of water so the seeds sink and the membrane floats.
- Add the tequila, pomegranate juice, lime juice and honey syrup to a shaker with ice.
- Shake hard for about twelve seconds. You want it cold and a little aerated, not watered down.
- Double-strain over one big cube in the chilled glass.
- Add the bitters on top if you’re using them, drop in a spoonful of pomegranate seeds, and rest a lime wheel on the edge.
Notes
Salt the rim if you want, but use flaky salt and only do half the rim so you have a choice partway through.
Too tart? Another quarter ounce of honey syrup, not more juice. Too sweet? More lime, quarter ounce at a time.
To make a pitcher for six, scale everything and hold the ice until people arrive. Stir it, don’t shake it, and pour over fresh ice.
If you want it longer and lower, cut the tequila to an ounce and a half and top with soda water. It’s a different drink and a good one for a long afternoon.
