Monday is Labor Day, a holiday with its roots in the American labor movement. I could go on about that, unreconstructed Bernie Sanders supportin’ liberal that I am, but you’re here for a drink, not to peruse my pontificatin’.

Anyhow, all this droppin’ of the letter G is brought to you by the good people at Hornitos. They’re the ones who persuaded me to use the final portions in my stash of Hornitos Plata to make something they call Workin’ Hard. It’s a very nice drink that includes an ingredient I’m learning to love which is not only new to me in a cocktail, it’s new to me completely. If, on the other hand, you’re more hip to the electrolytes than myself, this might just be the drink you’ve already been waiting for.

Workin’ Hard

2 ounces Hornitos Plata Tequila
2 ounces coconut water
1 ounce fresh lime juice
1/2 ounce agave nectar
3 dashes Angostura bitters
Lime peel (garnish)

Combine the ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously and strain into a Tom Collins/Highball or a double rocks glass over fresh ice. Add the lime peel. Appreciate the fact that, yes, you have to squeeze a couple of limes for this one but, as workin’ hard goes, it’s not really that much work.

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The first time I made a Workin’ Hard, I forgot to add the bitters. It actually wasn’t bad without it, just a bit simple and mildly disappointing. With bitters on later attempts, it was a nicely balanced and very complete beverage. Not perfect, perhaps. Depending on the brand of coconut water you use and your mood, I suppose, it might be a bit on the tart side, but lots of people like that.

For me, however, the really important revelation was coconut water, a product I’d never before sampled. Lightly sweet and thirst quenching in a way that’s a little bit like Gatorade but a lot less gross, there’s got to be more cocktail mileage in this stuff.

And if you’re thinking that this is post is slightly shorter than usual and finding it ironic considering the name of the drink is Workin’ Hard, then all I can say is you don’t know how hard I’ve actually been workin’ in real life lately. I’ve got my reasons. Also, there is a companion drink from Hornitos I haven’t tried called, of course, Hardly Workin’. Will that be my penance?

And now for a ingredient-appropriate musical interlude featuring the stylings of Harry Nilsson, literally aping Ernie Kovacs.