Strawberry Tequila Cocktail with Cynar

This spirit-forward Strawberry Tequila Cocktail is something a little bit different! It's like an herbal and fruity take on a Manhattan-style drink. It's sweet, but with a lot of complexity from the combination of Cynar liqueur, gin and tequila.

This Tequila Cynar cocktail was inspired by strawberries and early summer! I wanted to use tequila in a strawberry cocktail that wasn't just another margarita. Infusing the berries into the tequila brings out the sweet, fresh flavor and tastes delicious.

Another strawberry cocktail you can try is Strawberry Afternoon, which is a much lighter and more refreshing summer sip! Or, if you're looking for more sophisticated spirit-forward drinks, the Little Italy or the Vieux Carré would be right up your alley.

Ingredients

This tequila and gin cocktail works well because these spirits both have fresh and herbal tastes. Paired with the Cynar, which brings in sweetness and a slightly herbal bitterness, it becomes a really interesting flavored drink.

Here are the ingredients for this Cynar tequila cocktail:

• Strawberry-infused tequila (homemade) - click to the How to Make Strawberry Tequila section of this post for instructions on how to make it at home.
• Cynar - Cynar liqueur is an amaro, which is a bittersweet Italian liqueur (see my guide to amaro liqueurs). It's very complex on its own, so it adds a lot of dimension to this drink. Although this liqueur is well known for being made with artichokes, it doesn't really taste like them at all. It is herbal and bitter with caramel flavors to balance it out.
• Gin - I used a dry style of gin. Choose one that is more herbal and less citrusy to pair with the tequila.
• Hemp Syrup and Hemp Bitters - these were gifted to me by a company called Bluestem Botanicals. They went really well in this cocktail and complemented the flavors of the tequila.

Substitutions

Although this cocktail uses a few specialized ingredients, you can always make something similar by substituting. Here are a few ways you can substitute ingredients if you don't have everything on hand:

• Strawberry-infused tequila - if you don't have time to make this, you can add in strawberries in a couple of different ways. The easiest is to just cut up a strawberry and add it to your mixing glass, an use a muddler to mash it up in the bottom of the glass. Then just use plain tequila in the drink. Another way is to use strawberry syrup instead of the hemp syrup, and you can use either homemade syrup or store-bought syrup.
• Cynar - you can substitute Cynar with another dark amaro, like Averna liqueur or Ramazzotti liqueur. If you don't have any of those, sweet vermouth would also work well instead. Cynar has more alcohol in it than vermouth, so you can increase the amount of tequila by ¼ of an ounce if you make that switch.
• Gin - if you don't have gin, just use more of the tequila.
• Hemp syrup - you can use plain simple syrup here, or use a strawberry flavored syrup for more of a fruit flavor.
• Hemp bitters - use another type of bitters if you don't have this. Angostura bitters, or aromatic or herbal bitters like coriander would work really well.

Variations

If you're finding this drink too sweet/bitter/strong, here are some ways you can change it up.

• Too sweet - you can add a couple more dashes of bitters to cut the sweetness, or add a pinch of salt.
• Too bitter - if you find this drink too bitter, omit the bitters, or add ¼ ounce more simple syrup at a time until you like it. You can also add a pinch of salt to take down the bitterness instead.
• Too strong - this is a spirit-forward drink, so it's meant to be pretty strong. But, you can always change the drink up by adding it to a larger serving glass with ice, and topping it with plain seltzer. This will give you the same flavors, but in a more refreshing style of drink.
• Not enough strawberry - just change up the drink by muddling two cut up strawberries in the bottom of your cocktail glass. You may want to switch it up to shake the drink with ice instead of stirring it, since the strawberries will get incorporated a little better that way. Or, use a store bought strawberry syrup instead of the hemp syrup.

How to make Strawberry-Infused Tequila

It sounds fancy, but it's pretty simple to make a strawberry-infused tequila. All you have to do is get an airtight glass container, some kind of strainer (I use a pour-over style coffee maker to strain my infusions), and a bottle or other airtight container to store it in after it's ready to use. You'll also need some fresh strawberries and plain, not-too-expensive tequila.

Equipment

Since there is no fruit juice or cloudy ingredients like milk or cream, this cocktail is great as a stirred cocktail. You'll need a cocktail stirring glass, or a heavy-bottomed glass that won't slide around as you stir.

Some more handy tools would be a long-handled bar spoon to stir with, a jigger or small measuring cup, and a cocktail strainer to strain out the ice. You can use either a Hawthorne strainer (the one with the coiled wire) or a Julep strainer (which is one piece of curved metal with larger holes in it).

You'll also need a serving glass, and I recommend a Nick & Nora style glass with a stem. It's an elegant way to serve it, and the strawberry garnish looks great with this type of glass.

If you're looking to get or gift bar equipment, A Bar Above is my go-to place for high quality and durable mixing glasses, bar spoons, jiggers... you name it! Use my code LKDrinks for 10% off on their website.

Instructions

This drink is pretty easy to mix up once you have all of the ingredients together. Start out by measuring out your strawberry tequila and Cynar, and adding those to the cocktail mixing glass.

Then, add in the gin and the hemp syrup.

Finally, add in the hemp bitters. Then, fill the mixing glass up with ice.

Use a long bar spoon to stir the drink for about 30 seconds, and then strain the cocktail into your serving glass. Add a strawberry to the rim of the glass for garnish, and serve immediately.

Hint: For a pro-level finishing touch, chill your serving glass beforehand. You can chill it in the freezer, or just fill it with ice and water while you make the drink, then empty it out before straining in the drink.

Frequently Asked Questions

Top tip

This is a great cocktail to make as a batch for a party. It gets even better when you make it ahead and let it sit overnight in the fridge!

You can even skip the stirring step by adding a half ounce of water per drink before refrigerating. Easy and so good!