I love hosting a good theme party and for some reason Cinco de Mayo always stands out as one of my favorites. Maybe it’s because I love a good spicy margarita and homemade salsa verde. This year, I’m adding a little twist to my Cinco de Mayo party and having a tequila vs mezcal tasting.

Tequila is made in the northwest region of Guadalajara, Mexico from the Blue Agave plant. Mezcal is also made in Mexico from the Agave plant but each liquor is distilled different. Mezcal is known to taste like a smokey tequila.

I thought it would be fun to have a little Tequila vs Mezcal tasting with my girlfriends. I brought everything to make the drinks and my favorite salsa verde and everyone else brought a little something to add to our theme party!

Pro tip: The night before our party, I cut up a jalapeno and put them in my ice cube tray. This allowed us to control the level of spicyness in our margaritas! 

Tequila 

For the tequila part of the tasting, I made a traditional margarita with Jose Cuervo Reserva Platino Silver. I did 2 parts tequila, 2 parts lime juice, 1 part orange juice and a spoon full of agave syrup. (I doubled that recipe to make the pitcher) Garnish with salt on the rim and lime wedges.

 Mezcal

For the mezcal part of the tasting, I made a Basil Cranberry Julep with Mezcal Vago Espadin. I followed this recipe for the cocktail.  First I made a cranberry syrup in advance. For the drink, you place some basil leaves at the bottom of your glass with the cranberry syrup, add the mezcal top with ice and garnish with basil.

The Vote: 

Jennie, Jess, Katie, Maya and Randi helped me with the taste testing. We started off with the margarita then moved on to Julep. After we finished both drinks we voted on our favorite.

The winner was: tequila! 

See some more Cinco de Mayo inspiration here.

A special thank you to Drizly for working with me on this post!  If you aren’t familiar with Drizly, learn about them here. Sign up for their app here.

Thank you to K2 building for letting us use your space, FTD flowers and Crowning Events for the fun flower crown!