Overview
The Mexican Firing Squad is a classic tequila cocktail built from lime juice, grenadine, and Angostura bitters, sometimes lengthened with soda. It is ruby-tinged, tart-sweet, and sharper than it looks, with the bitters giving it a dry, aromatic edge. It is typically served during cocktail hour or as a pre-dinner drink.
Origin and history
The drink is usually traced to 20th-century cocktail writing about Mexico City bar culture. Charles H. Baker Jr. included a version in his 1939 travel-and-drink book The Gentleman’s Companion, describing it as a Mexico City bar discovery [1]. While less ubiquitous in everyday Mexico than the paloma or michelada, it remains an important classic in the canon of tequila cocktails.
What goes in it
The cocktail combines blanco or reposado tequila with fresh lime juice, grenadine (pomegranate syrup, often homemade), and several dashes of Angostura bitters. Soda water is optional and used to lengthen the drink into a highball.
How it’s made
For the standard version, all ingredients except soda are shaken with ice and strained into a rocks glass over fresh ice. If soda is used, it is added after straining and stirred gently. No precise measurements are required.
When and how to drink it
The Mexican Firing Squad is served at cocktail hour, typically before a meal. It pairs well with botanas, queso fundido, tuna tostadas, and grilled skewers. The drink should be enjoyed cold, with the bitters providing a dry finish that cuts through rich snacks.
Variations
- Short shaken version (no soda, served up or on ice)
- Lengthened highball version with soda
- Blanco tequila version (crisper, more agave-forward)
- Reposado tequila version (smoother, with vanilla notes)
Where in LA
No specific Los Angeles bars currently known from the available grounding.
Cross-cuisine context
The Mexican Firing Squad belongs to the sour family of cocktails, which appears in many traditions — for example, the Caipirinha in Brazil (cachaça, lime, sugar) or the Daiquiri in Cuba (rum, lime, sugar). Its use of grenadine and bitters is a specific twist that sets it apart from simpler sours. No widely recognized analogue exists outside the cocktail world.