Tequila Sunrise

The tequila sunrise is a cocktail made of tequila, orange juice, and grenadine syrup. The drink is served unmixed in a tall glass. The modern drink originates from Sausalito, California, in the early 1970s after an earlier iteration created in the 1930s in Phoenix, Arizona. The cocktail is named for its appearance when served—with gradations of color resembling a sunrise. History The original tequila sunrise contained tequila, crème de cassis, lime juice, and soda water, and was served at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel where it was created by Gene Sulit in the 1930s or 1940s. The more popular modern version of the cocktail contains tequila, orange juice, and grenadine, and was created by Bobby Lozoff and Billy Rice in the early 1970s while working as young bartenders at the Trident in Sausalito, California north of San Francisco. In 1972, at private parties at the Trident, organized by Bill Graham to kick off the Rolling Stones' 1972 tour in America, Mick Jagger had one of the cocktails, liked it, and he and his entourage started drinking them. They later ordered them all across America, even dubbing the tour itself their "cocaine and tequila sunrise tour". At the time, the Trident was the largest outlet for tequila in the United States, and in 1973 Jose Cuervo picked up on the new drink as a marketing opportunity and put the recipe for the new drink on the back of their bottles of tequila, and promoted it in other ways. Later that same year, the Eagles recorded a song called "Tequila Sunrise" for their Desperado album as the drink was soaring in popularity. In 1988, a successful film titled Tequila Sunrise was released, starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Mel Gibson, and Kurt Russell and directed by Robert Towne. On June 25, 2023, the Marin History Museum placed a historical marker at the Trident Restaurant to commemorate the Rolling Stones party and the re-interpretation of the Tequila Sunrise there.