The Zolezzi Cocktail has a bit of a story. It was invented by an unknown bartender at Cane’s Cantina in San Diego for a couple by the last name of Zolezzi. The couple tweaked the drink for four months until it reached what they considered perfection.
This drink features six ounces of liquor ingredients and about as many ounces of mixers. Three of those ounces are vodka and rum, and the other three are liqueurs. This is a very potent drink that’s designed to be sipped and enjoyed.
When describing the flavor of this drink, the first thing that comes to mind is “fruity.” But it’s hard to pick out any single fruit – they all meld into something that’s partly sweet and partly sour. And then the vanilla comes through subtly, rounding out all the other flavors and making it even more intriguing. The end result is delicious, even if you’re not wild about all of the ingredients by themselves.
Recipe
- 1 shot Midori
- 1 shot Blue Curacao
- 1 shot Absolut vanilla vodka
- 1 shot Bacardi white rum
- pineapple juice
- Sprite
- Orange twist
Fill a hurricane glass halfway with ice. Add the shots: blue curacao, then Midori, then the vodka and rum. Add equal amounts of pineapple and Sprite to the top. Garnish with a cherry and an orange twist, and be sure to actually twist the orange over it to release some aromatic oil.
Jessica & Christopher says
This is our drink, we are the San Diego couple. In 2007 my wife wanted a drink that was strong but did not taste like alcohol. So the bartender was asking questions about different flavors that she liked and we ended up with something close to this drink. After tweaking it at home we finalized the recipe. One thing missing from your recipe picture is the orange twist this helps get some aromatic citrus notes. Once we finalized the recipe we had recipe cards made and used them to order the drink all over town. This made it easier to order as the drink was new and a bit complicated.
We are glad that you tried it and hope you liked it as much as we have over the past ten years.
Mixy says
Thanks for sharing your story! You’re right, I did leave out the twist when I took the picture. I’ll retake it one of these days.
Didier Zolezzi says
I’d love to taste it one day. I’d love to come to San Diego for the park with the same name too. I’m French. My name is Didier Zolezzi. And I don’t know any origin of my name