El Diablo Cocktail

The El Diablo cocktail is exactly what you need for Halloween. It’s simple and the perfect drink to for any fall gathering or to sip on while sitting the porch handing out candy, which is exactly my plan. (Don’t worry, this year the candy will remain at the end of my driveway for adequate social distancing!) I mean how can you not have a cocktail named “el diablo” on Halloween.

This classic cocktail is just slightly sweet and a little spicy thanks to the addition of ginger beer and creme de cassis. To give the drink an extra tang, make sure that you use a good quality ginger beer that will give you the spice required for this drink. I recommend Fever Tree or Q Mixers ginger beer – I have used both with great results in the past. The creme de cassis adds a deep earthy sweetness as it is a liquor made from black currant berries. It adds a nice deep reddish/purple hue that just screams Halloween. The drink hits all the key flavor points of a quality cocktail (at least in my book): slightly sweet, a tad spicy, and a good bit tart.

You can serve the drink on the rocks or neat in a champagne coupe for a little extra drama. Top it with an extra lime wheel and some blackberries, and you’re golden.

Ingredients

Tequila: I use white tequila or “blanco” for this cocktail. Sometimes this tequila is called “silver” tequila. Either way, it’s unaged and does best in cocktails vs. the darker tequila (amber tone, not the one colored with caramel color that looks gold) is aged and does better for shots.

Crème de cassis: As I mentioned, this is a liquor made from black currants. They have a strong berry flavor. It typically hails from France and is a key ingredient in another classic cocktail, Kir – which is white wine topped with crème de cassis. For a Kir Royale, you swap the white wine for champagne.

Limes: Fresh lime juice is always best in cocktails and gives a fresh punch of acidity, which works so well in this cocktail.  Keep a few wedges or wheels of lime for garnish or extra squeezing on top.

Quality ginger beer: As mentioned, Q Mixers or Fever Tree are my favorite high-quality ginger beers. A higher quality ginger beer will let the ginger flavor come through more for a sweet and spicy kick.

Blackberries: This is optional but is a nice touch. Black currants are hard to find for garnish so blackberries are a good sub. Tip: If you freeze the berries in advance, you can use them as ice cubes.  

How to Make an El Diablo Cocktail

All of the ingredients except the ginger beer and garnishes go into a cocktail shaker with ice. After shaking them all up, you strain the cocktail in an old-fashioned glass filled with ice (or champagne coupe for neat) and top with the ginger beer. Don’t put the ginger beer in the shaker – you might end up with a huge mess by shaking up something with carbonation!

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