Ingredients
- 60 mL Tequila
- 22.5 mL Triple Sec
- 37.5 mL Lime Juice
- Coronita or another Mexican Beer
Instructions
Combine Ingredients:
- Add tequila, triple sec, and lime juice to a blender.
- Add ice and blend for 20-30 seconds or until smooth.
Pour and Serve:
- Pour the mixture into a large glass, such as a Boston or pint glass.
- Upturn a Mexican beer into the glass.
Garnish:
- Garnish with a lime wedge.
- Enjoy:
- Serve immediately and enjoy the refreshing and bold flavors of the Mexican Bulldog Cocktail.
Notes
Estimated Nutrition:
Where it came from
Tex-Mex chain bars in the 1990s gave us the Bulldog. Margarita with an inverted beer bottle balanced in the glass. The Mexican Bulldog uses a Coronita instead of a regular Corona, which fits in a frozen Margarita without overflowing.
It is a centerpiece drink, not an everyday Margarita. Served as a single huge cocktail or shared between two.
What it tastes like
Margarita first, beer second. The beer slowly tops up the glass as you drink, so the cocktail starts strong and tequila-forward and finishes longer and more lager-leaning.
Salt rim is essential. The salt against the lime and the lager finish is what makes the drink remembered.
Drink Buddy Exclusive
Tell us what's in your cabinet.
Our Cocktail Builder takes whatever bottles you've got and hands you every drink you can actually make tonight.
Open the Builder →Get the Drink Buddy newsletter
One drink, one tip, one Tuesday a month.
Plus the recipes we drop before they hit the site. Zero spam.
Ingredient Spotlight
The bottles that make or break this drink.
The tequila
- Use
- Silver or blanco tequila, Espolon, El Jimador
- Why
- You want the agave to read clean against the beer
The Coronita
- Use
- Coronita 207 ml bottle, ice cold
- Method
- Open it, balance it neck-down in the cocktail glass
The salt rim
- Use
- Coarse Maldon or kosher salt
- Method
- Lime wedge round the rim, dip into salt
- Why
- Fine salt gets too much, coarse is balanced
Why the Mexican Bulldog works (the Coronita trick)
A frozen margarita with a Coronita beer flipped upside down into it. Looks unhinged. Tastes incredible. Easier than it looks.
The technique
Blend the frozen margarita first: tequila, triple sec, lime juice, ice. Pour into a large salt-rimmed beer schooner or hurricane glass. Take an open Coronita (210ml mini Corona), hold it with the open mouth pointing into the margarita, and quickly flip it upside down so the bottle ends up inverted in the drink.
As you drink, the beer mixes slowly into the margarita. Each sip gets a bit of beer flavour layered on top of the tequila and lime. The drink gets lighter and more lager-forward as the bottle empties – lasts longer than a normal margarita.
Brand picks
Beer: Coronita (mini Corona) is the canonical pick – 210ml, perfect size, light Mexican lager profile. Sol Cerveza mini also works. Avoid heavier lagers like Modelo Negra; the dark malt fights the citrus margarita.
Tequila: Use silver/blanco. Reposado is too aged and woody for the frozen format – the agave notes you want come through better in unaged tequila. Espolon Blanco or Cazadores Blanco are bartender defaults.
Triple sec: Grand Marnier if you have it (orange-cognac depth). Otherwise Cointreau. Skip the cheap blue-label triple sec – it’s too candy-sweet for this format.
Common mistakes
Using a full-size Corona instead of a Coronita. A 355ml bottle is too tall to balance in the glass. The Coronita is sized exactly for this drink.
Closing the bottle cap. The beer needs to flow into the margarita as you drink. Capped bottle = no flow = no point.
Salt-rimming the wrong way. Lime wedge first to wet the rim, then salt. Reverse order and the salt gets soggy and slides off.
Blending past 5 seconds. Over-blended margarita turns to slush water. Pulse blend until smooth, no longer.
What if I don't have…
Quick substitutions for when the bottle shop is closed.
Any 200 ml beer bottle. Sol, Modelo or Pacifico work.
Cointreau, Patron Citronge or any orange liqueur.
Lemon works at a pinch. Drink shifts duller.
Use a non-alcoholic Corona substitute and a half shot of tequila.
Add a 15 ml float of mezcal on top. Smoky finish.
Not sure what to make tonight?
Tell our Cocktail Builder what you have in your cabinet and it will hand back every drink you can make from your shelf – sorted by what extra bottles would unlock the most new cocktails.
Frequently Asked Questions
Direct answers to what people search for after Googling this drink.
How does the inverted bottle work?
Can I do it with a full-size Corona?
How strong is it?
Can it be frozen?
Garnish?
