Día de Los Muertos Inspired Cocktails By Latinx Bartenders Featuring Perrier® Mystère Potion Blackberry Flavor

Inspired by Día de Los Muertos, Perrier® is launching a limited-edition offering, Perrier® Mystère Potion Blackberry flavor. To mark the occasion, Perrier® enlisted Latinx bartenders in the U.S. to craft creative cocktails inspired by the Día de Los Muertos holiday. In recognition of the release of its Día de Los Muertos limited-edition product, Perrier® is providing support in 2021 to two organizations which work to empower members of the Latinx community – The Hispanic Heritage Foundation and United Farm Workers. Check out these Día de Los Muertos recipes as Thirsty again collaborates with Perrier® to amplify and uplift extraordinary Latinx bar talents.

Día de Los Muertos Inspired Cocktails with Perrier® Mystère Potion Blackberry flavor

Denisse Soto (she / her) – El Gran Agave/ La Chingona Consults in Chicago

“Today, I’m coloring myself with the purple color for hope! Hoping for you to find this ofrenda that with the orange colors will let you see it as our ancestors Nahuatls believed in. On this day I won’t wear black, but white because we are not in grief. We are celebrating and we will laugh at this stubborn death lady. Who doesn’t know that even taking you away from me, our pure endless love is stronger than the infinite that separates us and as always with your jokes that lives in me, as the green color of your eyes with that sparkle when you laugh, we will keep laughing at her on this day of the death! I had never understood as I do today the strong meanings of the beautiful traditions in our culture. That with so much love and faith just the act of lightning a candle makes you feel so much peace and when all candles are lit together by different people at a church, cemetery or on the day of the death, the warm feeling of love and faith that goes from one to another, made me understand what resignation was supposed to be like. Let’s welcome our loved ones with all their favorite flavors and best memories because, no one ever dies as long as we keep them in our hearts. Feliz Día de los Muertos!”

La Testaruda cocktail

• 3 Square pineapple pieces
• 2 Epazote leaves
• 2 oz Chileatole verde syrup*
• .75 oz Lime juice
• .5 oz Beet juice
• 2 oz Gin
• Finish with Perrier® Mystère Potion Blackberry flavor
• Garnish: Epazote leaves

Chileatole verde syrup* – In a pot add 6 cups of water, 4 cups of cooked corn kernels, 60 grams of epazote, 2 serrano chilis, and 1/3 cup of dough. Put over heat and wait until everything boils (move around the dough to help dissolve). Once it’s boiling, add 3 cups of sugar, a teaspoon of salt, and stir until the pot begins to boil again. Cool down and blend all ingredients together. Strain and use.

Add the .5 oz of Beet juice to the glass, topping it with ice. In a shaker, muddle the pineapple pieces and epazote leaves.  Put remaining ingredients in the shaker, shake hard, and pour in the glass. Finish with Perrier® Mystère Potion Blackberry flavor.

Erika Delgado (she / her) – Kennedy Rooftop in Chicago

“Día de los Muertos is where we remember our loved ones who have passed, we celebrate them with the ofrendas, offering their favorite foods & beverages when their souls come back to visit. Being that corn is one of the most produced foods in Mexico, using a corn whiskey was a highlight to the cocktail. Using sage gives the cocktail a calming and herbal effect. This cocktail is balanced between, fruity, herbal, smokey and refreshing.”

Alma Calmada cocktail

• 2 oz Mexican corn whiskey
• .5 oz Ancho chile cinnamon syrup*
• .75 oz Lemon juice
• 2-3 Blackberries
• 2 Fresh sage leaves
• 1.5 oz Perrier® Mystère Potion Blackberry flavor

Ancho chili cinnamon syrup* – Toast 2-3 ancho chiles with 3 cinnamon sticks in a saucepan over medium heat for about 3 minutes until you have a slightly smoky aroma. Add equal parts sugar and water (2 cups of each). Bring to a slight boil then let simmer until a burnt caramel color is developed. Let cool and strain before use.

Start by muddling blackberry and sage leaves with ancho cinnamon syrup in a shaker tin. Add  remaining ingredients minus the Perrier®. Add ice and hard shake for about 6 seconds. Double strain drink into a highball glass to eliminate any fruit residue from muddling. Add the Perrier® Mystère Potion Blackberry flavor. Top cocktail with crushed ice and garnish with a torched lemon wheel and sage leaves.

Elaine Romero (he / they) – The Cabinet in New York City

“One of my fondest childhood memories is waking up at dusk and traveling to the local mercado for the materials and ingredients needed to craft the annual altar offering in celebration of Día de los Muertos. A deliberate arrangement of candles, flowers, photos, and the delicacies and material pleasures that our departed loved ones enjoyed the most, each altar is a loving act of remembrance meant to guide and welcome our beloved souls back home on this annual communion. My grandmother would mention the stoning recognition our past loved ones would have in accepting and acknowledging their own personal offering in the pile of the ofrenda. She mentioned that the only way to die is to be forgotten by our loved ones. A reunion I always look forward to. We celebrate this tradition because death is part of life.”

Chupacabra cocktail

• 2 oz Raicilla
• 1 oz Cranberry juice
• 1 oz Orange juice
• .75 oz Lime juice
• .75 oz Simple syrup
• Finish with Perrier® Mystère Potion Blackberry flavor

Add all ingredients into the shaker, except Perrier®. Add 1 bar spoon of chile salt, combine and serve in a tall glass. Be creative with the garnish. Finish with Perrier® Mystère Potion Blackberry flavor. Salud!

Nicholas Osuna (he / him) – Gracias Madre in Los Angeles

“Día de Los Muertos to me is for our loved ones whose last call didn’t mean an end to their celebrations, salud!”

Good Mourning cocktail

• 1.5 oz Tequila
• .5 oz Agave syrup
• .5 oz Ancho chili liqueur
• 1 oz Espresso (or cold brew)
• 4 Blackberries
• ½ Strawberry
• 5 Mint leaves
• Finish with Perrier® Mystère Potion Blackberry flavor

Add 4 blackberries, ½ strawberry, and 5 mint leaves to your shaker tins and muddle. Add all remaining ingredients, except the Perrier®, to shaker tins and muddle for 5 seconds. Add ice to your shaker tins and do a quick but hard shake. Strain your liquids into your Collins glass. Add ice to your Collins glass. Finish with Perrier® Mystère Potion Blackberry flavor and garnish with a blackberry on a toothpick. Salud!

Marisa Klug-Morataya (she / her) – Beauty Bar in Chicago

“Feliz Día de los Muertos a todos! Now is the time in our culture that we spend together celebrating life, confronting death, remembering, honoring, and giving offerings to our loves on the other side. We tell their stories and hang their photos. Last year our family added Arnoldo Teran to our ofrendas. He was the heartbeat of any party. A reliable wildcard. The tortillas de harina hechas a mano connect. I wanted to make this cocktail a tribute to him, a twist on a classic. Bubbly, sweet, and a little zippy! Salud a ti, Arnoldo. Te queremos mucho.”

Arnoldo Palmer cocktail

• 1.5 oz Tequila reposado
• 3 oz Yerba Buena iced tea
• .5 oz Lemon juice
• .5 oz Agave syrup
• 3 Blackberries
• 2 oz Perrier® Mystère Potion Blackberry flavor

Muddle 3 blackberries in a tin shaker. Add all ingredients, except Perrier®, into the shaker, shake with ice, and strain over ice. Finish with 2 oz Perrier® Mystère Potion Blackberry flavor. Garnish with blackberries and mint.

Juan Martinez (he / him) Wabi on Rose in Los Angeles

“Día de Los Muertos to me is a very special day in our family in which we all get together and reminisce on all the good times we had with our loved ones who are no longer here. We break bread, drink mezcal and eat a lot of delicious food from Oaxaca.”

Siempre Contigo cocktail

• 2 oz Mezcal
• 1 oz Lime juice
• .75 oz Hibiscus chamomile syrup
• 3 oz Perrier® Mystère Potion Blackberry flavor
• Garnish: Mint bouquet and dehydrated lime

Add all ingredients, except Perrier®, to a shaker. Shake and strain into a highball glass rimmed with chili seasoning blend. Finish with 3 oz of Perrier® Mystère Potion Blackberry flavor.

Carolyn Gil (she / her) – Dutch Kills in New York City

“Nothing makes me happier than reminiscing on setting up the ofrenda with my grandmother. Lighting up the copal in a tiny coal oven, shredding cempasúchil (marigold) towards the ofrenda, making our “guests” their favorite food and drinks. To later sit by the ofrenda drinking coffee at 11pm watching the water cups we demolished…What I would give to go back to these days!”

Palo Santo Smash

• 1 oz Tequila
• 1 oz Espadin & Madrecuixe mezcal
• .75 oz Simple syrup
• 1 oz Lime juice
• 2 Blackberries
• 1.5 oz Perrier® Mystère Potion Blackberry flavor

Add all ingredients, except Perrier®, into a shaker. Add ice and shake. Pour over double rocks glass with cracked ice. Finish with Perrier® Mystère Potion Blackberry flavor. Garnish with a blackberry.

Oscar Gil (he / him) – Scampi in New York City

“Honoring Día De Los Muertos season and embracing colors in such a magical tradition where the dead come visit their loved ones that were left behind eating and drinking their favorite meals and beverages! Cheers from the cempasúchil bridge that connects us all.”

Rosita cocktail

• 1.5 oz Tequila blanco
• .75 oz Lemon basil syrup*
• .5 oz Lemon juice
• 4 Hibiscus leaves
• 1 Egg White
• Finish with Perrier® Mystère Potion Blackberry flavor

*Lemon basil syrup – Boil equal parts lemon water and sugar until completely dissolved. Add basil and let it infuse for 15 minutes. Let it cool and use after.

Find more Día de los Muertos inspired cocktails by Latinx Bartenders with Perrier® Mystère Potion Blackberry flavor in Part I of this series. For more information on Perrier®, visit www.perrier.com and follow them on instagram – @perrierusa

21+ ONLY – PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY