Before we simmer up hot mulled wine and sip on old fashioneds, I think we need to milk the last of these balmy nights right until the first day of autumn. What better way to do that than combining the summer season’s go-to fruit with the ultimate party spirit?

I personally think watermelon is the it-fruit. Cherries, strawberries, blueberries, nectarines and plums are great but in a cocktail, nothing can beat a juicy, sweet and ripe watermelon. After a dozen years of growing into all four directions of the booze world, quality 100% agave tequila is definitely something that I’m heavily into these days.

In this recipe, we’re going to use Herradura tequila, as per usual. If you’ve got bad memories of intense hangovers from tequila, you probably had the mixto version which only consists of 51% blue agave and 49% miscellaneous sugars from either cheap sugar cane or grain and further mixed with extracts and flavouring, caramel colouring, sugar syrup, glycerin, etc., These are the ones you’re probably used to doing shots with while you were at uni and why you may have developed some stigma against tequila due to the day after. A good rule of thumb is to keep it natural and opt for the former 100% agave tequila.

This one was concocted by Jeremy Nivern - he’s a great bartender and floats around managing different bars in Auckland.