Tequila Shots: How to Take One Right, Gold vs Silver, and 11 Shooters

Lick the salt, shoot the tequila, bite the lime. In that order, and fast enough that the three steps feel like one.

How to take a tequila shot

1. Wet the web of skin between your thumb and first finger and shake a small pinch of salt onto it. Kosher or flaky salt sticks better and tastes cleaner than table salt.
2. Hold the shot glass in that same hand and a lime wedge in the other.
3. Lick the salt.
4. Breathe out, then throw the shot back in one swallow. Don’t hold it in your mouth and don’t sip it halfway.
5. Bite the lime straight away and suck the juice.

Most mistakes come from overdoing it. A whole palmful of salt makes the shot taste like seawater, and a three-second pause between salt and tequila lets the salt go flat on your tongue before the spirit arrives. Breathing out before you drink, and not in right after, keeps the alcohol vapor out of your nose, which is where most of the “burn” people complain about actually happens.

Why salt and lime at all?

Salt blunts bitterness, and the lime’s acid wipes away whatever harshness is left. Between them they cover for a rough tequila, which was the point. The ritual grew up in border bars and American college towns around cheap mixto tequila, the kind that is only 51% agave. In Jalisco, where tequila is made, people mostly sip it neat with a glass of sangrita on the side.

A good 100% agave blanco doesn’t need hiding. Try one shot with salt and lime and the next without; with a decent bottle, plenty of people prefer the second. Here’s how to read the agave label so you know which kind you’re pouring.

Gold or silver tequila for shots?

Silver. People do shoot gold tequila all the time (Jose Cuervo Especial Gold is the default bar shot across much of the US, which is why so many of the recipes below name it), but cheap gold is usually a mixto with caramel coloring and a little sweetener added to make it look and taste older than it is. Spend the same money on a 100% agave blanco. It goes down easier.

There is real gold tequila, labeled joven or oro, made by blending blanco with some aged tequila. Check for “100% agave” on the label; if it’s there, the gold is honest and shoots fine.

Reposado works for shots and is smoother than most blancos, since it rests two months to a year in oak. Añejo, aged at least a year, is a sipping tequila. Putting it behind salt and lime throws away the reason you paid for it.

How strong is a tequila shot?

Nearly all tequila is bottled at 40% ABV, or 80 proof, the same as standard vodka and whiskey. A US shot is 1.5 oz (44 ml), which holds about 14 grams of pure alcohol, exactly one US standard drink. A British single measure is 25 ml, or one UK unit; a large pour in a UK or Irish bar is 35 ml.

Most shot glasses hold 1.5 to 2 oz, and an enthusiastic friend filling to the brim at home is often pouring closer to 2. A plain shot carries roughly 97 calories; the calories in a shot post has the math and a table by proof.

What do 5 shots of tequila do to you?

Five 1.5 oz shots are five standard drinks, about 70 grams of alcohol. Drunk inside an hour, that puts a 160 lb man at a blood alcohol level of roughly 0.12 to 0.14%. A 130 lb woman lands around 0.20%, the range where vomiting, blackouts and falls become likely. Both are far past the 0.08% US driving limit.

Your liver clears about one standard drink an hour and nothing speeds it up. Coffee makes you a more awake drunk, not a less drunk one. Five shots at 10 p.m. means you are still impaired at 2 a.m. Doing a round of five anyway? Eat first. Space them out with water in between, and settle on a ride home before the first one goes down. If someone with you has passed out, lay them on their side, stay with them, and call 911 if their breathing turns slow or irregular or you can’t wake them.

Mixed tequila shooters

Eleven tequila shots, all on CocktailBuilder, roughly gentlest first.

Mexican Flag

Grenadine, melon liqueur, and tequila layered in red, green, and clear bands, the colors of the Mexican flag. More party trick than drink. See recipe

Pro tip: Pour slowly over the back of a bar spoon, densest first (grenadine), to keep the layers clean.

Blood Test

Gold tequila and grenadine, nothing else. Sweet, simple, deep red, and one of the few places the color of gold tequila earns its keep. See recipe

Bunny Fucker

Gold tequila, grenadine, a splash of orange juice, and 7-Up. Fizzy and fruity, and a gentler start for anyone who can’t face the straight shot. See recipe

Brave Bull

Our recipe uses Hornitos, a reposado, with coffee liqueur and a squeeze of lime. It’s the tequila cousin of the Black Russian, and better as a small sip than a slam. See recipe

Cucaracha

Equal parts tequila and Kahlúa, stirred with ice. The Brave Bull without the lime, and a little sweeter for it. See recipe

Bars sometimes set this one on fire and hand you a straw. The iced version tastes better and you keep your eyebrows.

Sangrita

Strictly a chaser. Cuervo Gold in one glass; Clamato with a dash of Worcestershire and a few drops of Tabasco in the other. Shoot the tequila, chase with the sangrita. See recipe

Pro tip: The Jalisco version is orange, lime, and chile instead of Clamato, and you sip it, alternating with the tequila. Do that with a reposado once and salt and lime will start to look crude.

Montezuma’s Revenge

A shot of Cuervo Gold dropped into a Corona: tequila’s answer to the Jäger Bomb. See recipe

Drink an inch off the beer before the shot goes in, or it foams over the rim and onto the bar. There are more drop shots in our bomb shots roundup.

Flatliner

Sambuca, a few dashes of Tabasco, and silver tequila, layered so the hot sauce hangs as a thin red line between two clear layers. You taste anise, then heat, then agave. See recipe

Pro tip: Pour the tequila slowly down the inside of the glass. If it hits the surface hard, the red line breaks up into pink fog.

Prairie Fire

Tequila and a dash of Tabasco. That’s the whole recipe, and it’s the oldest hazing shot in the book. One dash means one: the tequila should burn first and the pepper second. See recipe

Body Slammer

Cuervo Gold, Goldschläger, and Jack Daniel’s, half a shot of each, so a shot and a half of three different spirits, with cinnamon heat on the end. See recipe

Four Horsemen

Jägermeister, Rumple Minze, 151 rum, and Cuervo Gold, three-quarters of an ounce each, shaken. That’s three ounces of spirit, one of them 151 proof, which works out to about two and a half standard drinks in one glass. A shooter in name only. See recipe

Pro tip: Split it into two glasses. Nothing about this drink improves by being finished alone.

If you’re missing a bottle

• No gold tequila for the Blood Test or Body Slammer: use blanco. Bottom-shelf gold is mostly blanco with caramel color, so the shot comes out a shade paler and otherwise the same.
• No blanco for the straight shot: reposado is fine. Skip añejo.
• No Bacardi 151: it was discontinued in 2016. Don Q 151, Cruzan 151, or Plantation O.F.T.D. at 69% all do the job in the Four Horsemen.
• No Kahlúa: Tia Maria or Kamora in the Brave Bull and Cucaracha. Tia Maria is drier, so the shot leans harder on the tequila.
• No Midori for the Mexican Flag: the recipe already allows Pisang Ambon, and any green melon liqueur (DeKuyper, Bols) layers the same.
• No Tabasco: Cholula or Valentina for the Prairie Fire and Flatliner. Both are thicker and less vinegary than Tabasco, so add an extra dash.

Whatever else is on your shelf, CocktailBuilder will show you which tequila drinks you can make with it.

Frequently asked questions

How do you take a tequila shot with salt and lime?

Wet the back of your hand and add a pinch of salt. Lick the salt, take the shot in one swallow, then bite the lime wedge right away. Keep the three steps quick so they run together.

Is gold or silver tequila better for shots?

Silver. Most cheap gold tequila is a mixto with caramel coloring and tastes rougher than a 100% agave blanco at a similar price. Gold labeled 100% agave is fine to shoot, and reposado works too. Save añejo for sipping.

How strong is a tequila shot?

Tequila is usually 40% ABV (80 proof). A 1.5 oz (44 ml) US shot holds about 14 grams of alcohol, which is one standard drink, and about 97 calories.

What do 5 shots of tequila do to you?

Five shots are five standard drinks. Taken within an hour, that puts an average-sized man around 0.12 to 0.14% blood alcohol and a smaller woman near 0.20%, well over the driving limit. The body clears about one drink per hour, so it takes around five hours to sober up.

Why do people take tequila with salt and lime?

Salt blunts bitterness and lime resets the palate, which made rough, cheap mixto tequila easier to get down. A good 100% agave tequila doesn’t need either, and in Mexico it is usually sipped with sangrita.

Do you sip or shoot tequila?

Both. Blanco and some reposado are commonly shot. Good reposado and añejo are better sipped neat, slowly, at room temperature.

What is sangrita?

A non-alcoholic chaser served alongside tequila in Mexico, traditionally made from orange, lime, and chile, though many bars use Clamato with Worcestershire and Tabasco. You drink the tequila and follow it with the sangrita instead of salt and lime.

Last modified on October 16, 2026