Salty Dog
The salty dog cocktail is a citrus-forward tequila drink starring grapefruit juice and balanced out by a generously salted rim. Fun fact: A salty dog is a tequila greyhound, but with a salted rim and how the salty dog got its name.
7 minutes
1 cocktail
Beginner
Ingredients
- 1 ½ ounces tequila
- 3 ounces grapefruit juice
- Kosher salt
- Grapefruit wedge (optional)
- Lime wedge (optional)
Instructions
It’s called a salty dog, so let’s not skip this step — rub the flesh of a grapefruit (or lime if you’re not using freshly squeezed grapefruit juice) along the rim of your glass. Now, adhere the salt to the rim by tilting your glass into a saucer of salt.
Fill the glass ⅓ of the way with ice add tequila and a squeeze of a lime wedge if you’ve got it. Top with grapefruit juice. Garnish with a lime and/or grapefruit wedge.
Don your dog with color by making a Unicorn Salty Dog →
When was the salty dog cocktail invented?
Have you ever had a salty dog? It’s another oldie but a goodie. A salty dog is simply a tequila-based greyhound but with a salted rim. The gin-based greyhound dates back to the 1920s. Legend has it, the salty dog was invented a few decades later in the 1950s when salt was added to the rim of a greyhound in order to tone down the tartness of grapefruit juice. Today, you’ll see the salty dog made with vodka too.