The Perfect Cinco de Mayo Happy Hour
We love to celebrate cinco de mayo. Maybe it’s because it’s an excuse to celebrate. And yes, it’s quite cruel that cinco de mayo 2020 falls on taco Tuesday and we are all sheltered in place and can’t truly enjoy it. But we have the perfect solution for you including an at home celebration and HAPPY HOUR!
Our friend Vicki from Bubbly Side of Life is a former Spanish teacher and reminded us that, the United States celebrate cinco de mayo as a major holiday and in reality in Mexico it’s a pretty normal day. It’s not (as many believe) Mexican Independence Day, it’s the celebration of the victory over France at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. But we love a good reason to celebrate as much as the next person, so let’s keep the spirit of cinco de mayo alive in the United States and raise a glass!
To create a super fun cinco de mayo celebration (especially because this year we’re all sheltered in place), we've come up with some delicious cocktail recipes and a few suggestions on how to take your party to the next level!
HAPPY HOUR
Yes, it’s time for another Team Cocktail + Bubbly Side of Life happy hour! We couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate cinco de mayo together (but apart since we’re still sheltered-in-place) and, of course, you’re invited!
We are going to be making this traditional cocktails and of course, BUBBLY-izing them for a bit more fun.
So….
- Grab your cocktail ingredients and make these with us live on Instagram
- Register your email address here. If you joined us on our last one, you know that we pick our grand prize winner from those who pre-registered with their email address. (And it’s a GOOD grand prize so you don’t want to miss out!)
- Follow @teamcocktail and @bubblysideoflife on Instagram
- Prep your happy hour appetizer and/or taco bar
- Get ready to HAVE FUN!
Drink #1: MARGARITAS
When you think of Mexico, cinco de mayo and Mexican food, you automatically think of margaritas, right? And I don’t know about you, but while those pre-made mixes are super convenient they are not very yummy. And you can doctor them up for sure, but can we show you a simple way to make a margarita from scratch that we promise you will be much more enjoyable?
The margarita originated during prohibition (as all good things did, right?) and many believe that the first creation of this infamous cocktail was made in Tijuana, Mexico. Now there are several tales of this origin of this cocktail, but this seems most fitting, doesn’t it?
Of course, there are several ways to enjoy a margarita: frozen, on the rocks, straight up and even swirled with some sangria!
Here is our recipe for a delicious and fresh margarita!
- 1 1/2 ounces Tequila
- 1 ounce Orange flavored Liquor: Triple Sec/Cointreau/Grand Marnier
- 3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
- 1/2 ounce Agave or simple syrup to taste
- Lime wedge to garnish
3 Ways to Make Margaritas
Prep your glass: Run a juicy lime wedge around the rim, then dip the rim in coarse Kosher salt, and set aside.
On the rocks:
Add all ingredients into a cocktail shaker, shake well and pour into a glass with ice.
Blended:
Place all ingredients into a blender with ice, blend until slushy and ENJOY.
Straight up:
Add all ingredients into a cocktail shaker, shake well and pour into a glass.
To Bubbly-ize it, we’re going to top it with some brut bubbly.
TIP:
- If you don’t have orange flavored liquor, you could use orange Gatorade or orange flavored soda like Jarritos.
Fruit Flavored Margaritas
To make fruit flavored margaritas, you typically take our original recipe, add frozen fruit (with the syrup) and blend. It’s as simple as that. The most popular of course, is strawberry, but fruits like mango, peach, banana, melon, raspberry are quite popular as well.
TIP:
- When making fruit flavored margaritas, you may want to eliminate the orange-flavored liqueur.
Spicy Margaritas
Like to spice things up a bit? So do we! All you need to do to add a little spice to is slice up some jalapeños and add the slices to the shaker. Keep in mind the more seeds you allow in the spicier the margarita will be.
Drink #2: PALOMA
Another favorite Mexican cocktail is the Paloma. And the history of this drink is very elusive and quite controversial (thanks to some jokesters on the internet)
The word Paloma means dove in Spanish. Some say it was named after a folk song and some call it the “working man’s drink.” It’s believed that this cocktail didn’t even exist before the creation of grapefruit sodas like Squirt which was in 1938 in the United States, but it didn’t export to Mexico until 1955. Jarritos, that also has a grapefruit flavor wasn’t created until 1960.
Here’s the original version of a Paloma:
- 2 ounces tequila (blanco or reposado)
- 1/2 ounce lime juice (fresh)
- Grapefruit soda
Squeeze the lime into a glass, add tequila. top it off with grapefruit soda. Add ice and ENJOY!
And of course, we had to Bubbly-ize it….and we did change the recipe a tad to do so.
- 1/2 lime
- 2 oz grapefruit juice
- 1 1/2 oz tequila
- Top with bubbly
Squeeze the lime into a glass, add grapefruit juice and tequila, give it a stir and top it off with bubbly.
TIP: You can substitute vodka or grapefruit vodka for tequila and it’s just as delicious!
Drink #3: SANGRIA
While sangria is traditionally a drink you would enjoy in Spain, we’re going to include it into our cinco de mayo celebration anyway. Not to mention, it’s finally warming up and a pitcher of sangria is the perfect deck drink.
Now interestingly enough, in northern Spain, they don’t love sangria at all and they call it the drink to disguise bad wine. So that being said, you don’t need an expensive bottle of red wine to create this.
Vicki was spoiled in Spain and learned how to make the “perfect” sangria and typically can only find it at good Spanish restaurants back here in the states, so let’s teach you how to make the perfect sangria, shall we?
Traditional Red Sangria
- 1/2 lemon
- 1 orange
- 1 lime
- 1 apple
- 1 pear
- 1 1/2 oz Brandy
- 2 T Sugar
- Red wine: Rioja/White Merlot
- 12 oz Club soda/sparkling water
- Cut up the apple and pear into small bite size pieces and place into a 2-quart glass pitcher.
- Cut the lemon, lime and orange into thin slices and place into the pitcher.
- Add sugar and brandy and stir until the sugar dissolves.
- Add red wine, stir and chill for 2-6 hours.
- Before serving, top it off with club soda or sparkling water.
To Bubbly-ize sangria, we are going to replace the club soda with brut bubbly.
A few important tips:
- This is not a drink you can just whip up and enjoy….it needs time…at least 2 hours, but the longer you give it the better it is. You can even leave it as long as overnight and serve the next day.
- The most time consuming part, but most important part is cutting up the fruit.
- Pear is the key fruit!
- If you are making this on a gloriously hot summer day, freeze grapes to use as ice cubes and put them in when you pour it into a glass, do not soak them with the other fruit.
Cinco de Mayo Party Apparel
Even though we have to SIP (shelter in place) it doesn't mean we can't dress for the occasion! At Team Cocktail we love tequila, margaritas, sangria and well…really anything you want to serve us, but we also love to have swag to match the occasion. Tequila Makes Me Awesome anyone?
Here are some Team Cocktail favorites we think you should consider rocking this Cinco de Mayo! We even have some of these on sale right now!
Click here to check out our line of Tequila products perfect for celebrating the big day!
Happy Hour Food
This is happy hour and who doesn’t love taco Tuesday or a happy hour with a plate of nachos, side of queso and big thing of guac? Yeah we know the guac is extra but so are we!
Since tequila & bubbly pair so well with salty, fatty foods, we decided to whip up our most favorite, easiest and biggest crowd pleasing dip ever.
8 oz of whipped cream cheese
1 can chili no beans
1 bag shredded cheddar
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Spread the cream cheese evenly on the bottom of a pan.
- Spread the chili no beans on top of the cream cheese.
- Sprinkle the cheese on the top.
- Put in the oven until the cheese is fully melted.
- Serve with tortilla chips.
TIP: IF you have leftovers, when scooping it into the container take a knife and cut up the cheese so it’s easier to reheat and serve.
And as long as you have the chips out to dish up this delicious appetizer, you might as well put out some salsa and guacamole as well. Chips, dips and bubbly cocktails=an amazing happy hour!
Homemade Easy Spicy Guacamole
We LOVE guacamole…like really love guacamole and we even like to make it at home. This is our very own take on a classic. Yes, it's not traditional…but if you like spicy and easy…this the recipe for you!
- 3-4 Avacados (Make sure they are darker green or blackish color and have a little give when you press on them)
- 1 Packet - Mama Socorro's Holy Mol'e Guacamole Mix
- 1 Can Hot Rotel - if you don't like too much heat you can use regular. But over here we like it SPICY!
- 1 Lime
Step 1: Mash avacados in large bowl.
Step 2: Add packet of Mama Socorro's Guacamole Mix and mix together.
Step 3: Add 1/2 can of Hot Rotel - after mixing everything you can add more if needed. Make sure you drain the Rotel before you pour it in.
Step 4: Add juice of half of a lime
Mix all the ingredients together and then put in the fridge to chill for about 30 minutes. Check to see if you need to add more of the Hot Rotel!
Serve with your favorite tortilla chips and be the hit of the party!
Taco Bar
Now, if you don’t fill up on chips and dip(s), then it’s time for a full blown taco bar.
While they do take a bit of prep work, taco bars are perfect for everyone since each person can custom make their own perfect taco.
Go ahead and print off this grocery list to create the perfect cinco de mayo dinner.
Register for Happy Hour
And don’t forget….
- Grab your cocktail ingredients and make these with us live
- Register your email address here. If you joined us on our last one, you know that we pick our grand prize winner from those who pre-registered with their email address.
- Follow @teamcocktail and @bubblysideoflife on Instagram
- Prep your happy hour appetizer and/or taco bar
- Get ready to HAVE FUN!
We can’t wait to virtual happy hour with you again! ¡Celebremos!
By the way, if you’re curious as to how the Team Cocktail + Bubbly Side of Life happy hour/relationship came to be….check it out right here.