El Dorado Martini Draft 2

I’m still on the journey of making this cocktail trendy. For that reason, I’ve decided to make a second draft. This time I’ve gathered new experiences, discovered a few things I’d recommend trying, and come up with some new name ideas.

Let’s start with the name, because this is an interesting one.

Whenever I go to a bar and order this cocktail, there’s no way I can simply say the name. Which is annoying. As soon as I ask for a Dirty Reposado Martini, bartenders

immediately go, “Oh, you mean a Mexican Martini?”

I even had a back-and-forth with a bartender who insisted, “You can’t call that a martini. It’s either a Mexican Martini or something else, but not a martini.”

Which is funny, because nowadays there are so many drinks called martinis that aren’t actually martinis. Take the Espresso Martini, for example.

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a martini is “a cocktail made with gin and dry vermouth.” If we base ourselves strictly on that definition, then a lot of modern “martinis” aren’t actually martinis. Cocktails like the Lemon Drop Martini, the Cosmopolitan, and even the Dirty Martini would all be part of that conversation.

To be honest, I didn’t pay much attention to the guy. He was probably having a rough day, and I probably made it worse by asking for something that wasn’t part of his vocabulary.

However, I’m the kind of person who listens to criticism. I try to understand other people’s point of view, and I appreciate when someone is willing to disagree with me. In fact, I have a lot of respect for people who speak their minds.

So I started brainstorming different names.

I’ve used The Golden Martini and Dirty Reposado Martini, which I thought were pretty self-explanatory. But the bartenders still seemed confused when I ordered them.

The bartender’s advice was:

“You’ve got to call it something Mexican because it’s made with tequila.”

I’m not going to lie—that’s probably what was bugging him the most.

So I’ve decided to call it the El Dorado Martini.

That way it keeps a little cultural flavor while still sounding elegant. Besides, I can already imagine people walking into a bar asking for an El Dorado Martini.

As for the recipe, it hasn’t changed.

I’ve ordered this drink at several different bars, which means I’ve also tried it with several different tequilas. Not just reposados—some bars only carried blanco tequila.

People have also recommended trying it with añejo or cristalino tequila, which I’ll talk about in the next draft of this blog.

One thing I noticed is that Espolòn Blanco worked much better than Hornitos Reposado. However, reposados like La Gritona, Primera Mano, and even Casamigos tasted exactly the way I imagined the cocktail should.

What I’ve learned is that it’s much easier to skip the name altogether and simply tell the bartender exactly how to make it:

Three ounces of reposado tequila, one ounce of olive brine, two dashes of orange bitters, shaken and served in a martini glass.

That saves everyone the drama—and the explanation.

For now, I’ll just keep working on this project, trying different variations and keeping you guys updated.

Hopefully, one day, my dream will come true.