diablita

1 1/2 oz Reposado Tequila (Espolón)
1 oz Hiram Walker Triple Sec
1/4 oz Hiram Walker Crème de Cassis
3/4 oz Lime Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a Highball glass containing ice and 2 oz of ginger beer (AJ Stephens).

Two Tuesdays ago, I decided to remake one of my entries into the Hiram Walker Margarita Madness contest -- the Diablita which took first place. The drink was a hybrid of a Margarita and a Diablo akin to Ted Kilgore's Count Diablo which merged a Negroni and a Diablo. One of my reasons was to give some extra flavor and dimension to a Margarita; the other was to minimize one of the negative aspects of the Diablo, namely how much the cassis as the sole sweetener can obscure the other flavors in the drink.
The Diablita presented a ginger aroma led into orange, lime, and berry notes in the sip. The swallow was a combination of the tequila, ginger, and the cassis' currant flavors. Indeed, the Diablita was rather refreshing and there was just enough cassis to give the Diablo-feel to the drink without dwarfing the other flavors in the drink. While I am glad this drink won, other glorious entries such as the Periodita, the Tequila Periodista, will be forgotten.