Pimp Daddy

The Pimp Daddy puts vodka and tequila in the same glass, which is the detail that separates it from every other cranberry highball. Most recipes pick a lane. This one does not, and the tequila reads clearly through the cranberry rather than disappearing into it.

It is also served in a beer mug, which sounds like a transcription error but is not. Eight ounces of liquid plus a full load of ice cubes needs the room, and a standard rocks glass would leave you topping it up halfway through. The handle is a practical bonus on a drink this cold. What you end up with sits somewhere between a Cape Codder and a long tequila cooler, tart from the lemon juice, dry rather than sweet, and stronger than the fruit juice suggests.

Glass: Beer mug | Strength: Strong | Serves: 1 | Prep Time: 3 minutes

Bartender’s tip: Four ounces of spirit is doing the work here, so the cranberry has to be the unsweetened kind or the whole thing collapses into juice. Cranberry juice cocktail, the sweetened one in most supermarkets, will bury the tequila and leave the drink cloying. Use a blanco tequila rather than a reposado. The oak in an aged bottle fights the cranberry instead of complementing it. Squeeze the lemon fresh and add it last so the acid stays bright, and fill the mug with ice before anything else goes in.