El Diablo is the older, sneakier cousin of the Mexican Mule.
Why you are pouring this tonight
El Diablo is the older, sneakier cousin of the Mexican Mule. Trader Vic, 1946. Tequila, lime, ginger beer, and a sinking ribbon of crème de cassis that bleeds slowly up through the glass as you sip, like a sunset the wrong way around. Tastes like a Mexican Old Fashioned that has been sent on a holiday it did not strictly need.
The cassis is the entire drink. Briottet Crème de Cassis (real French blackcurrant liqueur) is the right call; the supermarket “cassis cordial” is sugar syrup with a memory of fruit and it cheapens the whole exercise. Real ginger beer (Bundaberg, Fever-Tree, Three Cents). Pour the cassis over the back of a barspoon last so it sinks to the bottom. Don’t stir. The colour-fade is the point. Pair with carnitas tacos, grilled steak, anything that smells of charcoal and lime. Drink one, then go for a walk before deciding about the second.
What to pour it alongside
Carnitas tacos, grilled steak, or chocolate-and-blackberry desserts. The cassis loves anything with red fruit.
Notes
Use a real ginger beer with bite (Bundaberg, Fever-Tree, or Fentimans), not a sweet ginger ale. The cassis layer is what makes the drink, if you can only find blackcurrant cordial, double the lime to compensate for the sweetness.
The recipe
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