The Story Behind The Siesta

Before the turn of the 21st century, encountering any tequila cocktail beyond a standard Marg or Tequila Sunrise in the U.S. was a rarity. But in the early aughts, agave spirits began taking the bartending scene by storm and consequently, the world of tequila-based cocktails grew tenfold. Along with agave-fueled modern classics like the Death Flip, Oaxaca Old Fashioned, and Naked and Famous, this era gave us the Siesta: a refreshing, blush pink blend of blanco tequila, lime and grapefruit juices, simple syrup, and Campari.

The year was 2006, and bartender Katie Stipe was just cutting her teeth at NYC’s Flatiron Lounge. Looking to create a drink of her own, she employed the “Mr. Potato Head” method of cocktail creation on the Hemingway Daiquiri, swapping rum for tequila and Maraschino liqueur for Campari. It sounds rather simple — and admittedly it is — but the Siesta soon grew legs and took on a life of its own.

However, the Siesta’s rise to modern canonical status was a slow burn. It initially spread to other NYC bars through word of mouth and via bartenders taking the recipe with them when they switched between gigs.

In 2011, bartenders Lynette Marrero and Ivy Mix founded Speed Rack, a traveling cocktail competition built to promote female bartenders all over the world and raise money for breast cancer education, prevention, and research. In each round, participants must create several drinks from memory as quickly as possible, and the Siesta was added to the list of potential drinks in 2015. According to Robert Simonson’s 2022 book “Modern Classic Cocktails,” “[the cocktail] has since been featured in Speed Rack bouts in the U.K., Canada, and Australia.”

After working at multiple bars in NYC and inventing countless cocktails, Stipe is now the bar and event director at Portland, Ore.’s Voysey, and the Siesta remains her most well-known creation to date. “I’ve met bartenders in cities all over the States that have used the Siesta as their back-pocket recipe,” Stipe tells VinePair. “Most of them use it as a gateway cocktail for guests who may shy away from bitter spirits, or for guests that just want to adventure beyond the simple Margarita.”

As for the recipe itself, Stipe says that “the original still holds strong, but just like other classic cocktail specs, you can always tweak the measurements to get a slightly different result.” For those looking for something more in line with a Margarita, she recommends adding a pinch of salt. “You can put it over ice, crushed ice, or serve it as a frozen cocktail, too,” she says. “Nothing is written in stone here.”