Santo Tequila asked top bartenders to create cocktails that Transcend the Ordinary using their authentic 100% Blue Weber agave tequila for a higher quality experience.

Out of hundreds of entries these TWENTY (20)* cocktails Transcend the Ordinary according to our judges! (*Finalist cocktails will be announced FIVE (5) per week in no order, for a total of TWENTY (20) Finalists cocktails.

Thank you to all the bartenders who participated. Stay tuned for announcement of 5 Bartender Finalists chosen by our judges to compete for Cash Prizes coming soon.

 

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Michael Vanderhorn

The Over-Soul

Transcending the Ordinary is usually a top priority for me when it comes to cocktails. Of course, I love a classic Margarita or Negroni but my artistic side shines through my cocktails. For this cocktail I delved deep into the word “Trascend” and landed on Ralph Waldo Emerson’s The Over-Soul. Focusing on the soul of the drink (and the spirit) I wanted to push past the ordinary association of earthy spice flavors and orange liqueur pairings and reach for something far more interesting: the floral and citrus undertones of Santo Blanco. An unorthodox split base with a fine Sardinian citrus gin pulls flavor from opposite sides of the world from Mexico: Ireland and Asia. Together with the freshest lime juice the asian spices and sardinian citrus elevates and supports the heavier pour of the tequila without overpowering it. Italicus, hibiscus agave syrup and lavender bitters shine together to empower the citrus and floral undertones of the tequila, adding a slight sour/bitter edge while balancing with rosey sweetness and a touch of caramelly agave. This cocktail Transcends the Ordinary and expectations for a tequila tipple, specifically leaning into the citrus and floral flavors while not bullying the earthy spice flavors away completely; rather, the cooked agave makes way for the deeper flavors as the ego should for us so that our Over-Soul can shine. Cheers!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 oz Santo Blanco Tequila
• 1/2 oz Drumshanbo Gunpowder Sardian Gin
• 1/2 oz Italicus Rosolio di Bergamotto
• 1 oz Lime Juice
• 3/4 oz Hibiscus Agave Syrup*
• 2 Dashes Scrappy’s Lavender Bitters

Preparation: Add all ingredients to a shaker tin with ice and shake well. Double strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a carnation *Hibiscus Agave Syrup: Add 30g Dried Hibsicus Flowers to 200g warm water. Let sit for 2 hours to extract flavor. Strain and add 600g Blue Weber Agave nectar to a saucepan and heat gently, stirring to combine. Garnish with Carnation.

 

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Kristen Begley

It Doesn’t Get Much Beeter Than This

I wanted to take an approach to this competition by using unordinary ingredients to make this cocktail. I was interested in messing around with pandan, I ordered several types of pandan to play with to find a good balance in cocktails. I also wanted to use beets for the earthy flavor and color that it would bring to the cocktail. These are two ingredients I have never used in a cocktail before, and the flavors meshed so well that I wanted to make this drink for the competition.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz reposado santo tequila
• 1 oz lime
• 1/4 oz beet juice
• 3/4 pandan simple syrup
• 2 dashes hellfire bitters

Preparation: I hand juiced fresh lime juice in a juicer, then I juiced the beets by running them through the press juicer. For the pandan simple syrup I made 1qt of simple syrup and added one tablespoon of pandan powder I got off Amazon. Edible flower for garnish.

 

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Danyele Brickner

Crystal Clear

I was inspired by the ideal of having something that looked like one thing but tasted like another. In this recipe, I took the idea of a clarified milk punch and applied it to a margarita, which resulted in a cocktail that is an unexpected as it is delicious. The innocuous appearance of the cocktail, like a glass of water with the trappings of a classic margarita, contrasts the intense experience on the palate. I included a homemade citrus-cardamom simple syrup to round out the bright flavor of the lime juice and add subtle complementary herbal and floral notes to create a balanced drink. The choice of a half-salt rim adds salinity to the drinking experience without competing with the flavors in the cocktail, which is what I really wanted to shine.

Ingredients:

Batch: Yields: 8 servings

• 16 oz Santo tequila blanco
• 4 oz orange liqueur
• 6 oz citrus-cardamom simple syrup*
• 6 oz fresh lime juice
• 8 oz whole milk

Single serving:

• 2 oz Santo tequila blanco
• 1/2 oz orange liqueur
• 3/4 oz citrus-cardamom simple syrup*
• 3/4 oz fresh lime juice
• 1 oz whole milk

Preparation: Combine 16 oz Santo tequila blanco, 4 oz orange liqueur, 6 oz citrus-cardamom simple syrup (recipe below), and 6 oz fresh lime juice. Add 8 oz whole milk to a large container and slowly pour tequila/simple/lime mixture over the milk. Mixture will curdle. Stir, cover, and refrigerate for 3 hours. Strain using cheese cloth and a coffee filter. Discard the curds. Repeat this step until all the curds have strained out and the liquid is clear. Pour clarified beverage into a half-salt rimmed glass and garnish with a lime wheel.

*Citrus-cardamon simple syrup: In a pot, combine 1 cup refined sugar with 8 oz water. Add the peel of one lime, the peel of half a lemon, and 1 tablespoon cardamom seeds. Bring to a boil. Then, remove from heat and allow to cool. Strain out solids.

 

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Argenis Calderon

Scorpio Season

I like to think that my cocktail transcends the ordinary by invoking the energies of the supernatural. With Fall here and both Halloween and Día de los Muertos right around the corner I wanted to put some flavors together that help invoke memories of the season. Something similar to a good cider. Pumpkins and apples are almost synonymous with Halloween and Oranges are just as Mexican as Tequila, as orange is the most prevalent citrus fruit planted in Mexico. This drink can be served warm or cold, but I suggest cold.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz. Santo Blanco
• 3/4 oz. Reál Pumpkin syrup
• 1/2 oz. Orange juice
• 1/2 oz. Apple juice
• 1/2 oz. Lime juice

Preparation: Pumpkin syrup can be purchases at webstaurantstore.com Put all ingredients in shaker Shake and strain over ice for warm cocktail heat over low heat with 5 oz. of water until desired warmth. Pumpkin spice caramel apple slices, Flower garnish in a carved out pumpkin

 

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Lance Bownman

Rise of the Purple Moon

Purple is a powerful and evocative color, and by its base nature is rooted in spirituality, mystery, enlightenment, and imagination. When given the brief for this competition I immediately knew I wanted to do something rooted in purple to make a cocktail that transcends the ordinary and seizes the moment. Purple is also a color that doesn’t happen enough in the cocktail world, aside from the aviation or the kir we have very few canon drinks that showcase such a captivating hue. Also, let’s be completely honest, the visual impression of a cocktail is our first interaction with a drink, so if we make that something that stands out from the normal green/yellow/brown tint of most cocktails we see it makes the journey is more intriguing from the start. With this in mind, I took the subtle spice and floral notes that are at play in Santo Blanco and wanted to play off of those to elevate them while still letting the agave heart shine through. One thing I’ve always had a huge affinity for is tea in cocktails, and I could think of nothing better to play against those floral notes than a stunning dragon pearl jasmine tea. High-toned white florals on a backdrop of green tea get me closer to the end goal of a delicious drink, and the high-volume steep also adds a little bit of tea tannin for textural contrast. But we still have to make the cocktail purple, and one ingredient instantly came to mind: chicha morada. This one probably requires some explanation, chicha morada is a traditional Peruvian soft drink, made with purple corn that gives it a deep purple hue, pineapple, which makes a great tie-in to the agave pinas that give Santo its distinctive agave character as well as adding some fruit pectin weight on the palate, apple, cinnamon, clove, sugar, and citrus it makes the perfect tropical but earthy complement to the high floral toned tea when they’re blended lends us the purple color that was at the forefront of my mind. It also makes a great tie-in to a personal memory of my first trip to Peru with my partner where on the first night in Lima we saw the amazing sight of a purple moon rising over the horizon of the Pacific Ocean. A little acid in the form of fresh lime juice to balance it out and we have a solid cocktail, but a few extra additions make it something truly special. Moroccan bitters add a little bit of heat and the aromatics of a spice market drawing out the spice and white pepper character inherent in Santo Blanco. A little saffron tincture with its earthy sweet floral aspect that only saffron can provide, which also plays perfectly into Santo Blanco. And that gets us to the key player in the cocktail: Santo Blanco. A lovely and complex tequila capturing the essence of the Jalisco highlands, ripe with the rich cooked agave that conjures memories of sweet potato, subtle baking spice, and white flowers, with a tinge of peppery spice, with a deft hand in ingredient selection can give us something that transcends the ordinary and takes the experience from just being a cocktail to being a journey. With founders that truly understand this ideal, with Guy Fieri understanding the concept of flavor and experience being co-mingled, and Sammy Hagar knowing that the show is as much of part of the experience as the product. My cocktail name is also an homage the Sammy Hagar’s “Rise of the Animal” wrapped up into the spirituality, mystery, enlightenment, and imagination of purple, and my memories of a purple moon. Finished with some decadent spiced passion fruit foam it makes the drink a multi-layered journey with the spiced and spicy foam creating one experience at first, eventually yielding fully to the cocktail underneath, much like the journey a set list takes us on, or the journey a chef takes us on while dining in their restaurant. This is what I tried to encapsulate in my drink, something that takes the higher spirit of Santo Tequila and makes something that truly transcends the ordinary, that’s the ethos of “Rise of the Purple Moon.”

Ingredients:

• 2 oz Santo Blanco Tequila
• 1 oz Dragon Pearl Jasmine & Chicha Morada Cordial*
• 1 oz Fresh Lime Juice
• 2 dashes Bitter End Morrocan Bitters
• 2 dashes Saffron Tincture***
• Spiced passion fruit foam (for garnish)**

Preparation: Combine all liquid ingredients in a shaker tin, add ice and shake, double strain into chilled cocktail glass, Libbey 8 1/4oz Speakeasy cocktail glass 603064. Top with spiced passion fruit foam.

 

*Dragon pearl jasmine and chicha morada cordial

• First make chicha morada:
• 9-liter water
• 1531 grams Purple Corn
• 1 Pineapple (peeled and sliced)
• 2 Apples (sliced)
• 4 Oranges (sliced)
• 16 Cloves
• 6 Cinnamon Sticks
• 2 liter sugar
• 2 tbsp citric acid

Preparation: Combine all ingredients except sugar and acid. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes, remove from heat and strain. Add water to return to 8L volume, add sugar and acid, stir to dissolve.

 

Dragon pearl jasmine 1:1 simple syrup:

• 4-liter 180-degree water
• 4.5 oz Rare Tea Cellar Dragon Pearl Jasmine Tea
• 4-liter sugar

Preparation: Combine tea and water, let steep for 5 minutes 45 seconds, strain, add 180-degree water to return to 4 liters of volume, add sugar and stir to dissolve.

Blend 1 part jasmine syrup to 1 part chicha morada to make jasmine and chicha morada cordial.

 

**spiced passion fruit foam first make spiced passion fruit cordial:

• 70 oz Goya Passion Fruit Puree
• 3 liters water
• 15-gram habanero
• 1/2 tsp clove
• 4.5 liter sugar
• 1/2 oz Bittermen’s Tiki Bitters

Preparation: Combine all ingredients except sugar and bitters in pot, bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes. Strain, Measure volume and return to 4.5L of volume, add sugar and bitters, stir to dissolve.

To make foam combine 4.5oz passion fruit cordial, 6oz egg white, and 3.5 oz lime juice in an ISI, double charge with n2o.

***Saffron Tincture: 1gram saffron 4oz Santo Tequila Blanco Method: Combine in a jar, let infuse for 48 hours, fine strain.