7 Best Tequila Sunrise Cocktail Recipes at Home

I was inspired to write this article by a mundane but surprising observation. I am a big fan of getting up early in the morning and enjoying the first rays of the rising sun.

I’m talking about that very orange sunrise, the light of which spills over the entire horizon, giving what is happening a certain mystical meaning. On days like these, I feel like something special is about to happen.

And that’s how I felt when I first saw the Tequila Sunrise cocktail. A soft transition from deep red to neon orange creates the illusion that your glass is not a drink, but a real natural phenomenon.

But this is only a visual element of a holistic composition, which I will now tell you about.

What is this cocktail

Sunrise has 2 creation stories that you should be aware of. I will talk about both, choosing the most significant points, and show the recipes for cooking both the old and the updated version.

Photo of a modern version of Tequila Sunrise.

Interestingly, “Sunrise” literally means sunrise. It owes this name to its bewitching appearance.

The first coming

Have you ever heard of musicians dedicating songs to cocktails and holding concerts in honor of them? If we are talking about Tequila Sunrise, all this is a fragment of almost a century of history of the drink.

It all started with a bar worker named Gene Soulit, who made Tequila Sunrise for the first time. Sometime between the late 1930s and early 1940s, at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel, a fussy visitor wanted a refreshing drink.

Creativity became his requirement for the bartender, and our hero completed the task 100%. Thus was born Tequila Sunrise or the rising sun (if adapted into Russian). It consisted of tequila, lime, grenadine syrup, blackcurrant liqueur and orange juice.

Reincarnation

It is difficult to say whether this is a continuation of the history of the 1930s or the beginning of a completely new path, but in the 1970s Tequila Sunrise gained the status of a cult cocktail. The modern version contains 3 ingredients: tequila, orange juice and grenadine.

It was there, in 1972, at a private party in honor of the start of the American tour of the Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger drank a tequila drink and was completely delighted. A few days later, the entire group absorbed Sunrise on an industrial scale.

Despite the official name of the Stones Touring Party, the musician himself called it “tequila sunrise tour”.

The recipe turned out to be so successful that Sunrise immediately gained incredible popularity. As early as 1973, Jose Cuervo, the top-selling tequila brand in the US, saw commercial gain in the people’s love for Tequila Sunrise and placed the recipe on the back of their bottles.

In the same year, the Eagles recorded a song called Tequila Sunrise for their album Desperado, and in 1988 the film of the same name Tequila Sunrise, which is known to our viewers as “Drunken Dawn”, was released. By the way, the main roles in it were played by Michelle Pfeiffer and Mel Gibson.

Composition and proportions

The original recipe:

• 1 part tequila;
• 1/8 of pomegranate syrup;
• 1/8 of blackcurrant liqueur;
• 2 parts soda;
• juice of half a lime.

Updated Recipe:

• 2 parts tequila;
• 3 parts fresh orange juice;
• 1/2 part pomegranate syrup

From the general we need ice and a slice of lemon to decorate the glass.

Caloric value

The energy value of cocktails is a sore subject for the beautiful half of humanity. In this case, it all depends on the specific recipe, but we will proceed from the option that will be prepared for you in 99% of the bars.

On the plus side, thanks to freshly squeezed orange juice, you will get a shock dose of vitamin C. If you are going on a long voyage, you can safely take Tequila Sunrise with you, it will definitely save you from scurvy, but it will not help in caring for your figure.

Difference from Tequila Sunset

I have already mentioned this variation of the cocktail. The main difference between Tequila Sunset and Sunrise is that blackberry brandy or, less commonly, dark rum is used instead of the usual syrup.

Let me remind you that the grenadine used in the original does not contain alcohol, but rum and brandy do. Thus, the final drink is stronger and more high-calorie.

It is worth mentioning that there is another variation of Sunset Tequila on the Internet with the addition of cherries and brandy, but this recipe is much less common.

Option 1:

• tequila;
• blackberry brandy/dark rum;
• Orange fresh.

Option 2:

• tequila;
• cherry;
• blueberry brandy;
• Orange fresh.

All proportions are similar to the modern Tequila Sunrise recipe.

Step by step homemade recipes

If we talk about hand-made cooking, then everything should be done really at home. Of course, you still have to buy tequila, but grenadine and orange juice can be easily prepared at home.

Preparation: heat pomegranate juice over low heat, without bringing to a boil. As soon as steam begins to gather above the liquid, pour in the sugar and begin to stir until it is completely dissolved.

Next, add lemon juice and orange blossom water. All this is mixed and evaporated to the desired consistency. Then remove the syrup from the stove and let cool at room temperature.

With orange fresh, everything is much simpler – we squeeze it out by hand.

If you don’t have a juicer, here’s a little “life hack”. We press the orange with the palm of our hand to the table and roll it in different directions. As soon as the orange becomes softer, cut it in half and squeeze the juice out of the half with your hand.

What do we need from the ingredients for 1 glass

I can say from personal experience that when describing cocktails, it makes no sense to indicate grams or milliliters – there is a risk of making a mistake with the volume of the glass. Therefore, it is much easier to express volumes in parts, and you yourself will calculate how many ingredients you need for your specific containers.

And who knows you, maybe you drink cocktails in buckets.

Composition:

• 1 part pomegranate juice;
• 1 part of granulated sugar;
• 1/2 part fresh lemon juice;
• 5 drops of orange blossom water (optional)

How to replace grenadine in a cocktail

We again return to the issue of variations and perversions, but if you cook at home, why not experiment a little. Grenadine can be replaced with almost any syrup.

If you are not afraid of strong drinks, you can try berry liqueurs. But here you need to monitor their density.

Tequila Sunrise is famous for its signature red to orange color transition, and this imposes additional requirements on the density of the grenadine substitute. It should be heavier than the other ingredients and should settle to the bottom of the glass.

Classic cooking recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 parts tequila;
• 3 parts fresh orange juice;
• 1/2 part grenadine syrup;
• cherry (optional);
• ice;
• slice of orange.

Preparation: mix tequila and orange juice in a shaker with ice, strain the mixture and pour into a highball glass. Put some more ice in there. Carefully pour in the grenadine so that it settles to the bottom of the container. We make a cut on an orange slice and put it on the edge of the glass.

Take a bar spoon and gently, repeat, gently stir the contents from the bottom up until you get the effect of transition from red at the bottom (grenadine color) to neon orange on the surface. Add a cherry and Sunrise is ready to eat.

retro recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 part tequila;
• 1/8 part of grenadine;
• 1/8 of blackcurrant liqueur;
• 2 parts soda;
• half a lime.

Preparation: send ice, tequila, lime juice to a shaker and mix. We strain the contents through a strainer and pour into a highball glass with ice so that cracked ice from the shaker does not get there.

Mix blackcurrant liqueur and grenadine, then pour them into the main ingredients. We wait until the syrup settles, and carefully add soda. Make sure that it does not mix all the other ingredients together.

Modern recipe

The reality is that there are a lot of modern Tequila Sunrise recipes. For the most part, these are different variations of the original with changed ingredients. I will mention many of them towards the end of the article.

Most often, tequila is changed to rum, vodka or liqueurs. Instead of grenadine, almost any other syrup will do. But orange fresh, with a few exceptions, remains an unchanged component of Sunrise.

By the way, the International Association of Bartenders has declared Tequila Sunrise its official cocktail.

with hibiscus

Continuing the topic of grenadine substitutes, we can recall hibiscus. Of course, this is not about a houseplant, I’m talking about the Sudanese rose or hibiscus, which belongs to the same species.

A fragrant syrup of bright red color with pronounced sourness is made from it. The recipe and proportions remain unchanged, so there is no need to describe it again.

with berries

There is no point in adding whole berries to Sunrise. They are used to decorate the rim of a highball, following the example of a citrus slice, but more often they are used to make syrups. As a variation of the original cocktail, this approach has the right to life.

If you do not deviate from the accepted norms at all, then the syrup for Tequila Sunrise should be bright red in color, and in density should correspond to grenadine.

With orange juice

Fresh is an element of the classic Tequila Sunrise recipe. In most alternatives, it is this ingredient that remains unchanged. If you are too lazy to squeeze the juice, buy it in the store. The exchange is unequal, the decision will affect the final taste of the product.

Non-alcoholic recipe

On the Internet, I met only two recipes for non-alcoholic Tequila Sunrise: Red Sea Sunrise and LemonTop Gin Sunrise.

In the first version, tequila is replaced by lemon soda or sprite. The recipe itself looks like this:

• lemonade;
• Orange fresh;
• Pineapple juice;
• 2-3 teaspoons of grenadine;
• orange slice for garnish.

Preparation is similar to Sunrise. Mix lemonade, orange and pineapple juices in a shaker. Pour into a highball with ice and add the grenadine syrup.

Для LemonTop Gin Sunrise:

• LemonTop Gin (if available)
• freshly squeezed orange juice;
• half a lime;
• 2-3 teaspoons of grenadine.

The cooking process is similar.

How to drink properly

Sunrise is a long drink that is drunk slowly through a straw. The melting of the ice changes the intensity of the taste of the drink, and the diluted syrup allows you to feel the other ingredients more vividly.

What other cocktails are in trend now

The world has embraced the fashion for “edible” cocktails. In short, it is a liquid thickened to a jelly state that can be eaten rather than drunk. Something similar can be seen in the techniques of molecular cuisine, when chefs change the textures of familiar products.

Returning to the world of reality, we can note several cocktails:

• Granita gin tonic: water, powdered sugar, gin, tonic, cucumber;
• Chocolate White Russian: vodka, Kalua, cream, chocolate syrup, ice;
• Irish flag: mint liqueur, Baileys, Grand Marnier.

Similar cocktails to Tequila Sunrise

Great popularity breeds imitators. Not surprisingly, Sunrise has a plethora of options. Here are some examples:

• Aperol Sunrise – instead of syrup, as in Sunrise, aperol is used;
• Tequila Sunset – swap grenadine for blackberry brandy or dark rum
• Caribbean Dawn – replace tequila with rum;
• Russian Sunrise – remove tequila and pour vodka;
• Southern Dawn – instead of tequila, Southern Comfort liqueur;
• Astronaut Rising – use Tang (drink mix) instead of orange juice;
• Amaretto Sunrise – Disaronno amaretto instead of tequila;
• Florida Sunrise – half serving of pineapple juice and half orange;
• Red Sea Sunrise is a non-alcoholic version of Sunrise that uses lemonade or sprite instead of tequila;
• Enamorada Sunrise – replace the grenadine syrup in Sunrise with Campari herbal liqueur;
• Colorado sunrise – Captain Morgan and Sunny Delight tangy orange drink;
• Goon Sunrise – replace tequila with wine;
• Arizona Biltmore Tequila Sunrise – Hornitos Plata tequila, buttercream, fresh lime juice and soda
• LemonTop Gin Sunrise – replace alcohol with LemonTop Gin (a lemon ice cream flavored drink);
• Sunset Safari – Amarula liqueur, chocolate syrup and pineapple juice.

With vodka

How to make any drink popular in the post-Soviet space? Add vodka.

The author of Russian Voskhod went down this path, adding instead of tequila alcohol that is more familiar and dear to us. Other ingredients of Sunrise, as well as the recipe, remained unchanged.

With rum

We have already talked about Sunset Tequila with the addition of dark rum, but we have only mentioned the Caribbean Dawn in passing. Such a drink will be relevant at resorts in some Saint-Tropez, and you need to drink it strictly in places overlooking the surf.

There are several variations of the composition, the most modified (in relation to the original):

• Pineapple juice;
• pineapple (for decoration);
• Orange juice;
• white rum;
• grenadine syrup;
• coconut syrup;
• ice.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to tell you a little about the choice of ingredients for Sunrise. I understand that not everyone has the opportunity to buy expensive alcohol or grenadine for Tequila Sunrise, not to mention other cocktails with a dozen ingredients.

In this article, I often mentioned professional bartender tools: shaker, highball, bar spoon, strainer. All this, of course, simplifies the preparation of Tequila Sunrise, but is not mandatory. You do not have a highball – a tall glass will do.

No strainer – take a small flour strainer, the taste will not change from this. And most importantly, do not be afraid to experiment and share this article with your friends on social networks.