Name: Sandy The Showgirl
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 45 ml Añejo tequila; 15 ml Mezcal; 15 ml Maraschino liqueur; 5 ml Agave syrup; 8 drop Lavender bitters; 10 ml Chilled water

Sandy The Showgirl
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Photographed in a Waterford Mixology Coupe Clear

Ingredients:
1 ¹⁄₂ oz	Patrón Añejo tequila
¹⁄₂ oz	Del Maguey Vida Clásico Mezcal
¹⁄₂ oz	Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
¹⁄₆ oz	Agave syrup
8 drop	Bob's Lavender Bitters
¹⁄₃ oz	Chilled water omit if using wet ice

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
Prepare garnish of lime zest twist.
STIR all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
Express lime zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

Tequila-based, with complex mezcal smokiness, rich maraschino cherry and floral lavender bitters. It's a cocktail that likes dilution so perhaps consider serving on the rocks.

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History:

Created in April 2015 by yours truly. The name was inspired by the lyrics of Neil Young's 1969 song, Cow Girl In The Sand, which, depending on who you believe, is about "unrequited love for a beautiful free-spirited woman," or about a promiscuous woman, or about a Spanish beach. I thought the lyrics mentioned "Sandy the showgirl" and was surprised to find they don't when I came to expand this explanation behind the name.

More cocktails by Simon Difford

Nutrition:

One serving of Sandy The Showgirl contains 182 calories

Alcohol content:

1.6 standard drinks
25.47% alc./vol. (25.47° proof)
23 grams of pure alcohol

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Nicola Adams

20th November 2024 at 17:22

Simon, this is truly magnificent! I didn’t have agave so I just used simple syrup. I didn’t have lavender bitters either, but I did have a bottle of “lavender distillate” from the Middle Easter grocers - and I figured 5 drops of this plus 3 drops of peychauds would be a reasonable substitute… It’s smokey AND floral and utterly delicious. I’m not sure why but it also tastes a lot like honey, which must be on account of that weird alchemy that happens only in the best cocktails!

Simon Difford

21st November 2024 at 07:24

Great to hear you liked it. Agave spirits sing with a touch of lavender.

Jeffrey Moore

4th May 2024 at 00:44

Going to have to try this, despite my initial hesitancy to 8 dashes of Lavender bitters.
No one else has mentioned the lavender overpowers it, so I'm in.

Simon Difford

4th May 2024 at 05:13

Just 8 drops of lavender bitters, not 8 dashes.

2 replies

Jeff Newcastle

26th May 2023 at 18:23

Gorgeous. Nothing more to say.

Peter Anderson

3rd January 2023 at 07:35

Got very excited about this as have my first ever bottle of Mezcal. A little too sweet for me overall.

John Hinojos

5th August 2022 at 19:26

Great cocktail. Was looking for a tequila cocktail not a Margarita to have with Mexican food. This was perfect. The smoky of the mezcal enhanced the chili taste in the food. Did serve on the rocks with a fresh cherry at the bottom. Wonderful.

Carol Smith

19th February 2022 at 00:24

Simply lovely over a big rock. Floral, smokey, simultaneously uplifting and moody. If I had a good, long story to share, I'd serve it up with this one.

Ramon Simpson

29th January 2022 at 04:40

For me this comes across clean and crisp with rustic earthy tones and the lavender floating gently around everything.. Freakin Awsome

JACQUELINE KIRK

28th December 2021 at 20:43

Bravo! Wow, what a surprising mélange. Although I did do some tweaking. I don't have lavender bitters, so added a tiny amount of crème de violette (maybe 1/3 bar spoon) and the liquid I made from (don't laugh) melting an original Ricola cough drop in water HAHA. I thought the violette plus herbal + slightly minty notes of the Ricola would produce something close to lavender! And it worked :P Great recipe, Simon, new top 10!

Benjamin McCabe

2nd October 2021 at 23:54

After some experimentation I reduced the agave syrup from 1 tsp to 1/4 tsp. Great cocktail!

Melissa Demian

2nd October 2021 at 20:56

Pale male singer-songwriters may record a thousand interchangeable odes to self pity about the woman they thought they owned but didn't; but this cocktail is uniquely wonderful. The only change I've made to it is even less agave syrup, which is so sweet it can step on the toes of the lovely agave spirits and completely obscure the Maraschino. Really just a squirt, because 5ml is too much.