Born in Mexico City, the Margarita Al Pastor Is a Global Hit

When Benjamin Padrón Novoa first devised the Margarita Al Pastor in 2009, he had no idea how far the delightfully fruity-spicy cocktail would travel. Though Novoa is now well known as cofounder of pioneering Mexico City bar Licorería Limantour (he parted ways with the bar in mid-2024), he wasn’t even a professional bartender when he created the drink.

After a career in marketing, working with brands such as Nestlé, Calvin Klein and Bacardí, in 2009 he signed up for a cocktail class in London. The final exam: Create a twist on a classic cocktail.

“I said, I’m Mexican, I’ll work with the margarita,” Novoa recalls. He drew on his own experience as inspiration: “After you go out in Mexico, after a party, you go get tacos, your tacos al pastor. I said, ‘Let’s combine that into a drink.’”

Typically, al pastor layers crisp-edged pork (spit-roasted on a trompo, then shaved off into super-thin slices) on a tortilla, along with small pieces of pineapple, onion and cilantro, often topped with a salsa made with chili peppers and lime. Novoa interpreted that as a spicy margarita, muddling pineapple chunks and cilantro with serrano chilis, and shaking it with tequila, orange liqueur and lime. An instructor from the cocktail class suggested adding mint and basil to that, “to add more fragrance,” and the drink was complete.

He went on to cofound Limantour—one of Mexico’s first cocktail bars—in 2011. The Margarita Al Pastor was part of the opening menu. “But it needed to be adapted for a high-volume bar,” he says, and muddling proved too slow. “People are thirsty, there is pressure.” So the bar began pre-batching a “taco mix,” blending pineapple with the herbs and a serrano-infused agave syrup, which could be quickly shaken with the other ingredients and added a coriander-salt half-rim for complexity.

Today, the drink has migrated well beyond Mexico City, with ever-changing permutations.

Of course, one reason it has traveled so far is because the Limantour team brings it with them, taking on an active schedule of guest shifts. “We have served the Margaritas Al Pastor in five continents and more than 55 countries around the world,” Novoa claims. And no matter what else is on the menu, “90% of the time, it’s the first drink to finish.” But it’s endured because it’s sufficiently versatile to encourage myriad adaptations.

For example, at live-fire-focused Pascual in Washington, D.C., a base of espadín mezcal is enlivened with chipotle-morita syrup, plus a pineapple garnish charred in embers from the kitchen hearth, according to bar manager Suzanne Critchlow. At NYC’s La Contenta, Alex Valencia translated the drink into a beer-based Michelada Al Pastor, blitzing cilantro, pineapple and chipotle into a “pastor mix,” topped up with passion fruit and Monopolio beer, served in a Tajín-rimmed glass. Perhaps the most over-the-top variation: a clarified milk punch, developed for an event in Shanghai, Novoa recalls.

But the drink has mainstream appeal, too: At Guy Fieri’s Tequila Cocina in Boston, it’s made with roasted pineapple purée, chipotle sour mix, and a Flavortown-friendly chili-lime dust rim. After all, despite the fancy twists and turns, the drink is still a spicy margarita—one of the most popular drinks in the U.S.—at heart. And it’s a drink that potentially has room to run even farther in 2025 and beyond, as it incorporates multiple trending flavors: pineapple (and sometimes other tropical fruit), fresh herbs, and savory and spicy flavors.

Plus, “everyone knows tacos,” says Chad Spangler, partner at Service Bar D.C. Yet, it has a unique aspect: Al pastor is distinguished by the spit-roasting of meat, reflecting the heritage of Lebanese immigrants who brought shawarma-making techniques to Puebla in the 1930s. “It’s a recognizable piece of everyone’s favorite food that’s very different and helps it become this cultural icon,” Spangler says.

Though few Al Pastor Margs include meat, the charred flavor derived from spit-roasting ideally should be part of the drink, he adds. Some might opt for a smoky mezcal to achieve that, Spangler says. His variation grills pineapple over charcoal and mesquite, then blends it with dried guajillo and chipotle chili peppers, plus earthy annatto seed, giving the drink a ruddy hue. That “pastor mix” is shaken with blanco tequila and raicilla, plus pineapple and lime, and served in a traditional clay pot garnished with pineapple fronds.

Of course, someone always has to take the party one step further.

“We decided we wanted to take the taco and translate it into the pure version of itself,” says Max Reis, beverage director of Los Angeles restaurant Mírate. “We take the pork fat left over from our kitchen, called asiento, and fat-wash our house mezcal. Also, we have house tortillas we make every day. We take the ones we would not be using, and put them into the mezcal as part of the fat wash,” adding a subtle cooked-corn flavor. This particularly complicated, conceptual variation also includes a Oaxacan chili liqueur and pineapple eau de vie. Named “El Taquero #2,” (a taquero is a person who makes or serves tacos), the drink is served with a splash of cilantro-infused olive oil for extra aroma.

“It’s out-there, but it’s fun, intriguing,” says Reis. After all, a decade-plus after its invention, this taco-inspired drink is easy to recognize and celebrate: “It’s one famous thing from Mexico meets another famous thing from Mexico.”

Margarita al Pastor

Adapted from Benjamin Padrón Novoa, Licorería Limantour, Mexico City @limantourmx

This spicy margarita is inspired by the flavors found in al pastor tacos: namely pineapple, chile peppers and fresh cilantro. While there’s no meat in this drink, the glass is rimmed with a mix of dried chili
powder and salt to add a smoky, savory effect that subtly mimics the flavor of spit-roasted pork.

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