Tequila is at its best in warm weather. It goes long and refreshing over ice or short and sharp in a coupe, and it swings from bright and grassy to soft and honeyed depending on the bottle you reach for. National Tequila Day falls on 24 July, which is as good a reason as any to put a bottle to work.
These are five drinks worth the effort, in rough order from lightest to richest. None of them needs a bar full of kit. What they do need is fresh lime, a decent 100% agave tequila, and a bit of care over the balance.
A quick word on tequila before we start. Blanco is unaged, clean and peppery, and it keeps a cocktail bright. Reposado rests a few months in oak and adds a little vanilla and warmth, which suits a richer serve. Añejo is aged longer and turns soft and mellow, better sipped than shaken. If you want the background, our guide to how tequila is made explains where those flavours come from, and the different types of tequila breaks down the styles.
One label tip. If you want tequila made only from agave, look for 100% de agave on the bottle. Anything without it can be a mixto, cut with other sugars, and it will make a rougher drink. Every serve below is better with a 100% agave blanco or reposado.
1. Ranch Water
The lightest drink here, and the easiest. Ranch water is a Tex-Mex favourite that is really just blanco tequila, fresh lime, and sparkling mineral water. It lets the agave lead, so use a tequila you actually like.
Fill a tall glass with ice, pour in 50ml blanco tequila and the juice of half a lime, then top with cold sparkling mineral water. No sugar, no fuss. Taste and add a little more lime if it needs sharpening. It is the tequila answer to a gin and soda, and it drinks all afternoon.
Reach for: a clean, peppery blanco
2. The Paloma
Mexico's everyday long drink, and better than the margarita for a hot day. Grapefruit and tequila are a natural pair, the bitterness of the fruit playing off the pepper of the spirit. It is long, sharp, and just sweet enough.
Fill a tall glass with ice and add 50ml blanco tequila, 15ml fresh lime juice, and a pinch of salt. Top with grapefruit soda, or with fresh pink grapefruit juice and a splash of soda if you want it drier. Stir once and garnish with a grapefruit wedge. The salt is not optional, it pulls the whole thing together.
Reach for: a bright blanco with a little pepper
3. The Margarita
The drink everyone knows, and the one most often ruined by sour mix from a bottle. Made properly, with fresh lime, it is sharp, balanced, and hard to beat. Forget the frozen slush machine.
Shake 50ml blanco or reposado tequila, 25ml fresh lime juice, and 20ml orange liqueur such as triple sec hard with ice, then strain into a chilled glass. Salt the rim if you like, but only half of it, so you can choose each sip. Reposado gives a rounder, slightly sweeter margarita, which many people prefer.
Reach for: a blanco for a crisp one, a reposado for a rounder one
4. Tommy's Margarita
A modern classic and, for a lot of people, the better margarita. It drops the orange liqueur and sweetens with agave syrup instead, which keeps everything tasting of the tequila rather than of orange. It is cleaner and a touch drier.
Shake 50ml reposado tequila, 25ml fresh lime juice, and 15ml agave syrup with ice, then strain over fresh ice in a rocks glass. No salt rim needed. This is where a good reposado really shows, so use one you would happily sip on its own. It makes the case for spending a little more on the bottle.
Reach for: a reposado with some vanilla and warmth
5. The Añejo Old Fashioned
When the evening cools down, this is where an aged tequila earns its keep. It is the whisky old fashioned rebuilt around añejo, and the honey, caramel, and gentle oak of a good aged tequila suit it perfectly.
Stir 60ml añejo tequila with a teaspoon of agave syrup and a couple of dashes of bitters over ice until cold and silky. Strain over one large cube in a short glass and finish with an orange twist. This is a slow one. Use a tequila you would happily drink neat, because you are barely dressing it up. If that is the sort of bottle you want, our roundup of the best sipping tequilas points you at the aged bottles worth the money.
Reach for: an añejo good enough to sip on its own
Two Bottles Cover the Lot
You do not need five tequilas for five drinks. A clean blanco and one good reposado will get you through everything except the old fashioned, and even that works with a rich reposado at a push. Add an añejo later, when you want a bottle to sip slowly after dinner.
Keep the lime fresh, never bottled, and make your own agave syrup by stirring two parts agave nectar with one part warm water until it loosens. Those two things lift a home cocktail more than any expensive gadget. Chill your glasses too, it costs nothing and it makes every drink better.