While it may be an unlucky number to some, the thirteenth season of Speed Rack—the cocktail competition with a charitable heart of gold (and pink!)—has been as flashy, splashy, and high-octane as ever as we head into the finals set in New Orleans this month. 

Started in 2011 by Lynnette Marrero and Ivy Mix and featuring bartending’s top women+ talent battling it out in speed, precision, and taste, Speed Rack has grown to encompass so much more than just nail-biting entertainment. From regional rounds to nationals, the tour sweeps through markets large and small to amplify undersung voices in the industry, a breath of fresh air in the bar world. 

For the past decade and a half, we’ve seen what talent and pizzazz the Speed Rack world fosters—we’ve even seen the endeavor leap from stage to page last year with the book A Quick Drink: The Speed Rack Guide to Winning Cocktails, highlighting stories and recipes that speak to the now-long journey and their shared mission. Following our smash hit collaboration from waaaay back in 2020, we knew the time was right to get shakin’ with the cocktail queens once again.

For the Speed Rack: Taking on Tequila Box, you will not be timed nor expected to shake with one hand and dash with the other—and there will be no eyebrow-raised judges inspecting your every move (or if there are, that’s on you and yours!). What we can guarantee is a perfect-for-summer taste of the spirit of the series, straight from its two creators and a two-time competitor. With a hearty bottle of tequila blanco, of course! Subscribe now to get yours—it’s slated to start shipping this week!

Run, don’t meander, to rediscover a classic that never left the menu at Brooklyn’s now-closed cocktail wonderland Leyenda. Ivy Mix has coaxed out of bed her signature statement cocktail Sonámbula (“sleepwalker”), which represents her passion for pan-Latin spirits and flavors. Jalapeño infusions are all the rage online these days, but Ivy’s been working with that technique since TikTok was just the sound a clock makes. A four-minute soak in tequila is all the peppery backbone you’ll need to energize the graceful flavors of chamomile and lemon plus creole and mole bitters in this sour that long captured the hearts of the city that sometimes sleeps (on two feet)!

Ivy is co-owner of Whoopsie Daisy and Fiasco! in Brooklyn, New York; the co-founder of Speed Rack; and the author of two award-winning cocktail books, Spirits of Latin America and A Quick Drink: The Speed Rack Guide to Winning Cocktails for Any Mood. She was named American Bartender of the Year at Tales of the Cocktail’s 2015 Spirited Awards and Mixologist of the Year by Wine Enthusiast in 2016.

It took no grand deal with the devil for Lynnette Marrero to dream up this tall and refreshing tequila cooler—just a look at the landscape, and a feeling that blueberries should have a bigger presence in cocktails. Smack in the middle of peak season, the jammy azure gems would be enough on their own to color and flavor the tequila and ginger beer body of Diablo en Verano—but she goes on to tweak the knobs further with the addition of black peppercorn, cardamom, and a touch of acid to make those blues go boom! 

Lynnette’s career began when she accepted a job at Flatiron Lounge alongside cocktail-savant Julie Reiner. She’s since opened and is now the bar director of NYC’s Llama Inn and Llama San, and launched the Masterclass.com Mixology platform in March 2020. In 2021, she was awarded the coveted Altos Bartender’s Bartender award from The World’s 50 Best Bars. For her work with co-founder Ivy Mix on Speed Rack, Lynnette received the Tales of the Cocktail’s Spirited Awards for World’s Best Bar Mentors and Philanthropy.

And the blue ribbon for best new cocktail capturing baked good greatness goes to . . . Caer Maiko! Her Cherry Pie Old Fashioned represents an amazing all-American makeover for tequila blanco, one that swirls the spirit and creole bitters with a dark cherry syrup that’s sweet, tangy, and touched with the baking spices cinnamon and clove. Call it the best new county fair classic, or a scrumptious sip that even granny would go gaga for. You just won’t say it’s the pits!

Having returned to her SoCal roots, Caer can now be found managing the iconic Los Angeles gastropub Father’s Office. She is also the co-creator of Daijoubu Pop Up: Super Asian Cocktails, a traveling cocktail experience that pushes culinary boundaries in cocktails by incorporating surprising, unusual, and authentic Asian flavors while creating a space for Asian people in front of and behind the bar. She was also a top-4 finalist (!!!) for US Bartender of the Year at the 2023 Tales of the Cocktail Foundation’s Spirited Awards and has been a veteran S&S alum with many great cocktails to her credit, including the peppy pink Miami Sound Machine.

The competition is stiff, and the cocktails can be too! Sign up today for the Speed Rack: Taking on Tequila Box to see how we pull off the impossible—packing the immense amount of inspired energy that is Speed Rack into one tidy and tasty package!

But wait, there’s more! We can’t promise a gold trophy in your future after making your way through the amazing cocktails in this box—but 10 lucky subscribers will still come away with something shiny: a golden ticket, to be redeemed for your very own copy of Lynnette, Ivy, and Megan Krigbaum’s book A Quick Drink: The Speed Rack Guide to Winning Cocktails for Any Mood!

Now get those cocktail (and reading) glasses ready to rack and roll!

🍋🫐🍒,
The Shaker & Spoon Team

*not vegan: cherry pie syrup contains butter extract.
*potential allergens: Bitter End Mexican Mole Bitters contain sesame. An ingredient in the cherry pie syrup “contains naturally occurring sulfites.”