Shaken hard and served up, the Toreador drinks like a Margarita with apricot brandy where the orange liqueur would go — rounder and fruitier, with a touch of syrup smoothing the edges. The stone-fruit warmth softens the agave bite of the blanco tequila without burying it, while fresh lime keeps the finish bright and snappy.
Garnish: Lime Wedge
Shaken · Coupe · Up
add
Combine tequila blanco, apricot brandy, lime juice, and simple syrup in a shaker.
shake
Add ice and shake vigorously until well chilled.
strain
Fine-strain into a chilled coupe.
garnish
Garnish with a lime wedge on the rim (optional; the original was served without garnish).
The Toreador's earliest known appearance is in the 1937 Café Royal Cocktail Book, a collection assembled by William J. Tarling on behalf of the UK Bartenders Guild at a time when tequila was still a novelty behind European bars. Tarling set down only the ingredients and their proportions — two parts tequila to one each of apricot brandy and lime or lemon juice — with no word on who devised the drink or when, so its inventor remains unknown. That printing puts it ahead of the Margarita, and modern bartenders have since added a little syrup to the old ratio. It remains a connoisseur's pick: little known in the United States, but a familiar order in Australia.