Ranch Water Recipe: Tequila, Lime and Sparkling Water

Ingredients

1¾ oz blanco tequila 100% agavee.g. Olmeca Altos · Patrón · Don Julio · Espolòn · El Jimador
¾ oz lime juice
top up with sparkling mineral water highly carbonated, such as Topo Chico

Garnish: Lime wedge · Ice: Ice cubes

Method

Fill a highball glass to the top with ice cubes.
Add tequila and lime juice.
Top with ice-cold sparkling mineral water and stir once gently from the bottom.
Garnish with a lime wedge.

Watch it made

Ranch Water

Taste

Very dry and bright: agave and pepper from the tequila, sharp lime and aggressive bubbles with a faint mineral salinity. Light in body and easy to drink.

History and origin

Ranch Water comes from West Texas, where it has long been a simple local drink before it became a trend across the United States in the late 2010s. Nobody can say with certainty who first mixed it. The usual stories place it on ranches or in bars in the Fort Davis and Marfa area, and several people have been named as its inventor, none of them provably.

What almost every account agrees on is the mineral water: Topo Chico, a strongly carbonated water from Monterrey in Mexico that is widely sold in Texas. Its sharp bubbles and slight saltiness are what give the drink its bite. The rise in popularity led several brands to release canned versions of Ranch Water.

Bartender tips

The water must be as cold and as fizzy as possible; a weakly carbonated water makes the drink flat and dull.
A traditional trick is to drink a little from the bottle of Topo Chico, pour tequila and lime straight into it and drink from the bottle.
For a very slight softness, add 5 ml agave syrup, but the classic version has no sugar at all.

Variations

Mezcal Ranch Water: Use mezcal instead of tequila for a smoky version.
Salted rim: Salt half the rim of the glass to echo the minerality of the water.