Skip to main content

Retox Cocktail

5.0

(2)

Photo of 2 tequila cocktails retox cocktail and margarita cocktail
The Retox Cocktail (left), shown with a classic Margarita.Eric Medsker Photography

A popular fad known as the Detox Cleanse requires its devotees to drink a mixture of lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper. I'd prefer to see an actual doctor and visit the gym rather than subject myself to such lengths. But the detox mixture was so close in nature to a simple sour that I felt compelled to use it as a riff on the classic Margarita. Fresh jalapeños stand in for the cayenne pepper for a brighter, more vegetal flavor, and the richness of maple syrup combined with the tart lemon juice beckons you back for more. 

Ingredients

2 or 3 slices fresh jalapeño
¾ oz. grade B maple syrup
½ oz. fresh lemon juice
2 oz. reposado tequila
Kosher salt for rim

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Rim half of a rocks glass with kosher salt. Muddle jalapeño in base of cocktail shaker. Add maple syrup, lemon, and tequila. Shake vigorously with ice.

    Step 2

    Fill rimmed glass with fresh ice. Double strain cocktail (to remove any pepper bits) into prepared glass. Garnish with lemon slice.

Cover of Sother Teague's I'm Just Here for the Drinks cocktail book.
From I'm Just Here for the Drinks: A Guide to Spirits, Drinking and More Than 100 Extraordinary Cocktails. Copyright © 2018 by Sother Teague. Reprinted with permission from Media Lab Books. Order the full book from Amazon.
Read More
This spicy blackberry margarita gets its heat from a chile de árbol, shaken with fresh berries and a sprig of mint.
With black pepper, toasted sesame oil, and Castelvetrano olives, this margarita is for the savory drink lovers.
Fresh celery juice gives this margarita a savory, vegetal edge and makes it exceptionally refreshing.
Muddled melon lends a hot pink hue. Call it the drink of the summer if you must!
Nutty, protein-packed, and batchable—perfect for hectic mornings.
Add a bag of potato chips and you've got yourself a party.
Sweet, aromatic, and bubblegum pink, this playful cocktail is the utter definition of fun.
Use summer’s ripest offerings to make this Mexican party bev.