virgin de guadalupe

1 1/2 oz Blanco Tequila (Espolón)
1/2 oz Yellow Chartreuse
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1 oz Grapefruit Juice

Build in a Highball glass with ice and top with 3 oz of ginger beer (AJ Stephans). Garnish with a long grapefruit twist after squeezing some of the oils over the drink.

Tuesday last week, I decided to make the Virgin de Guadalupe that I found in Gary Regan's Annual Manual for Bartenders 2011. Adrian Biggs of La Descarga in Los Angeles named his drink after a vision of the Virgin Mary who appeared to Juan Diego near Mexico City and told him to build a church in the 16th century. The icon of the Virgin of Guadalupe later became Mexico's most popular religious and cultural image. The drink itself reminded me of the Tequila Buck El Burro, and its Yellow Chartreuse aspect made me think of the Restauranteur.
The grapefruit oil paired well with the soda's ginger notes on the nose. The carbonation sharpened the lime and grapefruit on the sip, and the tequila and ginger rounded out the swallow. The Yellow Chartreuse did not stand out as distinctly for me but seemed to complement the flavors in the swallow; perhaps our extra potent A.J. Stephans brand ginger beer was a bit too distracting.