It’s officially November but not officially cold weather time yet here in Texas. I’ve been going through our bar cabinet trying to identify which spirits we should finish before Old Man Winter arrives. Any excuse to make some space for new boozy friends! We have a healthy amount of tequila to work through, so I thought I’d come up with a new “snuggly” tequila drink to help transition us into fall. I love a good El Diablo, so I thought I would try to work off that. The result? My La Manta cocktail, “the blanket” instead of “the Devil” and a switcheroo of amaro instead of creme de cassis… and an absent citrus and the addition of simple but who’s counting?!
Over a year ago, I picked up my bottle of Averna after reading all about the amaro trend online. Despite my love for sipping drinks, I haven’t made much progress in my Averna. Of course, this is likely equally to do with its strong medicinal flavor and the fact that I haven’t spent much time looking into how to mix with it. But that’s all about to change with the new La Manta cocktail, a drink for snuggling and reminiscing.
This guy packs all the antiseptic, bitter qualities of amaro metered with the bright spice of ginger. Don’t be fooled by the potent nature of the drink and go for an old fashioned glass. After all, you’re going to want a tall glass as this guy just gets smoother and more delicious the more the ice, spirits, and ginger beer have time to mingle.

- 1 1/2 oz. reposado tequila (I use Hedurra)
- 1/2 oz. Amaro Averna
- 1/2 oz. simple syrup
- 4 oz. ginger beer (I use Trader Joe's fantastic Ginger Brew)
- Dash of El Guapo Chicory-Pecan Bitters
- Measure the tequila, Amaro Averna, simple syrup, and bitters into a cocktail shaker over ice.
- Shake well, for 20 - 30 seconds, then strain into a tall glass filled with ice.
- Top with ginger beer and enjoy.
- Don't cheat yourself here -- ginger ale is not the same as ginger beer! The spice of legit ginger beer will make all the difference.
November 2, 2016 at 7:13 pm
That sounds delicious and I love the name. I don’t have chicory pecan bitters, though – would one of the more common bitters be an adequate substitution, or do I just need to beef up my home bitters selection?
November 3, 2016 at 8:50 am
The bitters provide a good nuttiness to the cocktail that I don’t know if Peychaud’s or Angostura could provide, but since it’s just a dash, you could probably leave it out and not miss on too much. I’d hate for you to buy special bitters just for this! But if you had another nut-like bitter (such as the Fee Brothers Black Walnut) that would be a fine substitute. Or maybe I can lend you some El Guapo!!