A tequila buck with a devilish streak: blanco tequila and fresh lime stretch out under a long pour of ginger beer, bright and spicy, with the agave's green, peppery edge cutting through the fizz. A half-ounce of crème de cassis bleeds through the glass and dyes it a deep ruby, adding a tart blackcurrant richness that makes it drink like a Moscow Mule with tequila where the vodka was and dark berries in its blood.
Garnish: Lime Wedge
shaken · Highball · On the Rocks
add
Add the tequila, crème de cassis, and lime juice to a shaker with ice.
shake
Shake until well chilled.
strain
Strain into a highball glass filled with fresh ice.
top
Top with ginger beer.
garnish
Garnish with a lime wedge.
Victor Bergeron — better known as Trader Vic — created the drink and gave it the name "Mexican El Diablo" when he printed it in his 1946 Book of Food and Drink. At the time tequila was still a novelty for most American drinkers, so the recipe served as an early showcase for agave in a mixed drink. The "Mexican" has since fallen away, and the drink is now filed as a tequila buck — one of the family of highballs that pair a base spirit and citrus with a ginger soda.