Cince de Mayo MARGARITAS!

Blueberry and Basil Margarita

Makes 1 Cocktail

INGREDIENTS

2 oz. fresh lime juice
1½ oz. fresh lemon juice
3 tbsp. sugar
3 oz. fresh blueberries
4 basil leaves, plus 1 sprig
3 oz. reposado tequila
1½ oz. Grand Marnier
1 oz. agave syrup

INSTRUCTIONS

Boil juices and sugar in a small saucepan until sugar dissolves; cool. Pour syrup into a shaker with all but 4 blueberries and the basil leaves; crush with a spoon. Add tequila, Grand Marnier, and agave. Fill with ice, and shake. Strain into a highball glass filled with ice; garnish with remaining blueberries and basil.

Garden Fresh Margarita

Makes one drink

Ingredients

FOR THE GINGER-KALE JUICE

1 cup ginger juice (see note)

½ cup kale juice (see note)

2 oz. blanco tequila
1 oz. lime juice
¾ oz. agave nectar
Salt, for rimming the glass

INSTRUCTIONS

Rim a rocks glass with salt, set aside. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and pour in ½ oz. ginger-kale juice, tequila, lime juice and agave nectar. Shake well, and pour over ice into your salt-rimmed glass.

Note: Fresh ginger and kale juices are available for takeaway at some juice bars. To make kale juice at home, wash, stem, and roughly chop kale, and liquefy in a blender at high speed, straining out solids if desired. To make ginger juice at home, finely grate knobs of peeled ginger over cheesecloth; squeeze cheesecloth to strain out ginger juice.

Watermelon Margarita

Serves 2

Watermelon gives the Silver Coin Margarita, from Austin's Fonda San Miguel, its refreshing kick. We recommend using Herradura Silver Tequila.

FOR THE WATERMELON-INFUSED TEQUILA:
1 medium-size seedless watermelon
1  750-ml bottle of silver tequila

FOR THE MARGARITA:
4 oz. of the watermelon-infused tequila
2 oz. frozen limeade
2 cubes of the infused watermelon
1 1⁄2 oz. Cointreau
Watermelon wedges

1. For the infused tequila, cut a watermelon into 1" cubes (rind removed) until you have roughly 2 lbs. of fruit. Transfer to a glass jar, pour in tequila, seal jar, and let steep for 2 days.

2. To make drinks, combine the watermelon-infused tequila, 2 cups crushed ice, frozen limeade, infused watermelon, and Cointreau in a blender. Purée until slushy. Garnish with watermelon wedges.

The Guavarita

Serves 1

The mixologist at Bar Americain who gave us this recipe had one thing in mind when creating this cocktail: to come up with something tropical, refreshing, and—most importantly—loaded with tequila.

5 pieces fresh basil, torn into small pieces
1 1⁄2 oz. guava nectar
3 oz. Don Julio Reposada tequila
1⁄4 oz. fresh lime juice

1. In a shaker, mix basil, guava nectar, tequila, and lime juice—taking care not to muddle the basil—then shake and serve, over ice, in a rocks glass.