My Pineapple Margarita with Sotol is what you would call a loose interpretation of the well-known “margarita”. Here, you won’t find tequila nor orange liqueur, but what you will find is one refreshing cocktail using pineapple juice, spicy peppers and a really interesting distillate called sotol.
For those who have never tried it, sotol is an alcohol distilled from the desert plant, Dasylirion wheeleri, also known as the sotol plant or desert spoon plant. This evergreen succulent is part of the asparagus family, Asparagaceae (not the Agavaceae family). It’s native to the Chihuahuan desert that stretches through parts of northern Mexico and the southwestern U.S. from West Texas through northern New Mexico and into northern Arizona.
Although people like to compare sotol to tequila, the two have little in common. Sotol is a smokier and more robust alternative to tequila that reminds me more of a fine scotch whiskey than a tequila. Sotol is considered an eco-friendly spirit, made from wild harvested and organic plants. It’s also processed without the addition of sugars (unlike tequila or most other hard liquors), which leads some to claim that one can drink sotol without threat of a hangover or headache the next day. Cheers to that!
To make my Pineapple Margarita with Sotol, start by infusing the pineapple juice with the hot peppers. Grab a thick-bottomed saucepan and pour in 4 cups of pineapple juice, one tablespoon of lime juice, ¼ cup of agave nectar and one habanero plus one jalapeno pepper that have both been washed and sliced in half. Do not deseed or destem the peppers; leave them as intact as possible. Slowly heat the juice and peppers up over medium heat until the juice just reaches a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes, then remove the pot from the heat and let the peppers steep in the juice while it cools to room temperature. Once cool, pour the contents into a glass jar, with a tight-fitting lid and refrigerate until the juice until very cold.
Once the spicy pineapple juice is cold, it’s time to make the cocktail! Grab two glasses and wet their outer rims by running the very edge of each glass under the faucet. Pour Tajin onto a plate, and dip the rim of each glass into the Tajin to coat. Place ice in each glass and set aside.
Next, fill a shaker with ice and add 3 ounces of sotol and 7 ounces of the spicy pineapple juice, making sure to leave the peppers that have been steeping in the glass jar from getting into the shaker (the juice is plenty spicy without them). Seal your shaker and vigorously shake the contents for 20 seconds. Strain the cocktail into each glass and garnish with a cube of pineapple and a slice of jalapeno. You will have enough spicy pineapple juice to make 8 cocktails. Share with friends and enjoy!
Pineapple Margarita with Sotol
Ingredients
- 4 cups pineapple juice
- 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
- ¼ cup agave nectar
- 1 habanero pepper, halved
- 1 jalapeño pepper, halved
- sotol
- ¼ cup Tajin
- cubes of pineapple and slices of jalapeño (for garnish)
Instructions
- In a saucepan, add the pineapple juice, lime juice, agave syrup and hot peppers. Slowly bring the juice up to a gentle boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove saucepan from the heat and let the the juice cool to room temperature while the hot peppers continue to steep. When cooled, pour the juice and peppers into a glass jar with tight-fitting lid and refrigerate until very cold.
- Once the juice is cold, it's time to make the cocktail! Grab two glasses, wet the rims of each glass and coat them in Tajin (optional, but highly recommended). Add ice to each glass and set aside.
- Fill a shaker with ice, 3 ounces of sotol and 7 ounces of spicy pineapple juice. Seal and shake the contents vigorously for 20 seconds. Strain contents into each glass and garnish with a cube of pineapple and a slice of jalapeño, if desired.
- You will have enough spicy pineapple juice to make 8 cocktails in total. Share with friends and enjoy!
