Sharkbait’s Cocktail of the Week: Spicy Drinks II: Electric Boogaloo

Happy almost weekend everyone. When looking for inspiration this week, I didn’t have to look very far. I had some leftover jalapeño and basil from a dinner I made, and didn’t want those fresh ingredients to go to waste. So, I hit the internets to see what I could find for inspiration. Fun fact: if you look up jalapeño drinks, you mostly get margaritas. Now, there is nothing wrong with a margarita, but I wanted something a little more out of the box. Eventually, I was able to find a non margarita option: the Lemon-Basil Jalapeño Tequila Cocktail. Yup. That’s its name. Real creative right?

7 Fresh lemon-basil leaves
1 oz Freshly squeezed lime juice
3 oz Fresh pineapple juice
1½ oz Jalapeño tequila

Place lemon-basil leaves in a mortar. Sprinkle with granulated sugar and muddle well. In a shaker filled with cubed ice, combine muddled leaves and remaining ingredients. Shake well. Pour tequila mixture into tall glass. Garnish with jalapeno pepper wedge and serve.

Some ingredient housekeeping: I only had regular Italian basil on hand, not lemon-basil. A dash of lemon juice made up for the lack of lemon there. Also, I didn’t have jalapeño tequila on hand, so I minced the leftover half jalapeño and added that in with the basil in the muddling process.

Visually, my version looks nothing like the image from the recipe. Maybe I muddled the basil a little too much? Who knows. Also, I would suggest straining this, as opposed to pouring directly from the shaker as the recipe specified. As much as I could muddle the basil leaves and the pepper, there are some rather large chunks in there and drinks really aren’t meant to be chewed. Either way, this drink has some zip. Because jalapeño peppers tend to be more on the mild side, I intentionally left the seeds in the jalapeño to add more heat. That was a good decision. So the heat comes in up front, followed by the tequila pineapple juice flavor. The drink ends on a hot and sour note from the lime juice and the capsaicin from the pepper seeds. On its own this drink is a touch too sour for my liking. It needs to be paired with something that could counter-balance the sour citrus ending.

Would I make this again? I would. However, I would make sure to strain it, and find a proper food pairing.