My love affair with Mexican cocktails began one inauspicious morning. I could see a face glaring at me, a black Stetson, a thick mustache, and a hip holster. “I have a warrant for the arrest of Bill Carroll for drunkenness and disorderly conduct,” the officer said. Bill was my cousin, but years of experience taught me not to mention it. Even as a child, he attracted trouble like flies to stale beer in the Texas sun. My ravaged neurons slowly brought back scenes from the night before—after Bill’s show, drinking tequila at a bar near the border, followed by a blackout as dark and hazy as Modelo Negro.
“This is all a big misunderstanding. You have to go back to the Hilton El Paso.”
A smile crossed the questioner’s face. “This isn’t El Paso, Amigo. You’re in Juarez.” Then I heard a cold laugh. “It’s not funny, is it funny?”
I felt in my wallet and shoved my ID into his hand. “See? You’ve got the wrong guy.” He stared at my driver’s license for a long time. Sighing, I handed him the cash in my wallet. The cell door swung open and I stumbled out into the bright morning sun.
As I trudged to the border crossing, I passed a cart full of bottles and remembered that I had hidden some emergency cash in my shoe. “Un coctel, señor?” asked the girl sitting behind the tequila bottle. For the love of God, yes, Senorita, I need a drink like a spider needs a fly.
She poured a generous amount of Herradura Silver into a metal shaker. The scent of fine tequila and fresh lime slowly brought me back to life. “Una Paloma, Señor,” she said, handing me a plastic cup. I guess you could call it a sense of relief after narrowly dying. La Carcelbut it was the best cocktail I’ve ever tasted.
Now living in New York, I make Palomas when I miss warm weather and cowboys. Over the years, I have also mastered a repertoire of other tequila and mezcal elixirs. Here are my favorite Mexican cocktails to make at home and enjoy while listening to Manna records and reading a Cormac McCarthy book. border trilogyor watch YouTube videos of my wayward relative Bill Carroll and laugh.