Tequila Sunrise

Tequila Sunrise is one of the most famous and loved cocktails. It is an average alcoholic drink, inspired by the style of Caribbean cocktails, with a pleasantly thirst-quenching and fruity taste. It is made with a few simple ingredients; Tequila, orange juice and grenadine, a pomegranate juice syrup. The name Sunrise (alba), comes from the fascinating combination of colors in the glass, which recall the warm hues of a sunrise . It is a very consumed drink in summer, both as an aperitif and after dinner. The first version of a cocktail similar to today's Tequila Sunrise, seems to have been created in the late 1930s in the United States by Gene Sulit , barman of the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix. Sulit's recipe was slightly different and was basically inspired by the Gin Sling cocktail. In fact, it provided for the use of cassis cream and lime juice. As often happens in the world of cocktails, experimentations and variations on the theme continued over the following decades, first with the introduction of orange juice and subsequently with the replacement of cassis cream with grenadine, particularly fashionable over the years 70. Just this version with orange juice and grenadine has been officially codified by the IBA , the International Bartenders Association, true authority on the matter. Its success is due to the pleasantness of the sip, fresh, fruity, thirst-quenching and not excessively alcoholic, as well as the indisputable charm of its warm colors. Its popularity peaked in the early seventies, when music was also fascinated by this cocktail. In 1973, the Californian musical group of the Eagles included in the Desperado album a song entitled Tequila Sunrise . Cinema also used the name of the cocktail in 1988 for the Robert Towne film Tequila Sunrise, starring Mel Gibson, Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russel, released in Italy with the title Tequila Connection.