Eat This Now: Spicy Cocktails

Mulled wines and Irish coffees were our go-to drinks for soul-warming on snowy days, until we discovered a slew of local ­bartenders mixing up something even hotter. Literally. Turns out that the spicy undertones of tequila make the perfect backdrop for chili-pepper-spiked drinks cooled by a dash of fruit juice (the sour cream of the drink world). The trend started, logically, at Mexican restaurants like Headhouse Square’s Xochitl, where the tequila-cantaloupe Godínez is served in a glass rimmed with ground ancho and pequin peppers, sugar and salt. But chef Joe McAtee of Doylestown’s American ­restaurant Honey put the Heat of Passion (tequila, passion-fruit juice, lime, and house-made habañero-ginger syrup) on his bar menu because spicy libations are more food-friendly than overly sweet concoctions. We’ll drink to that.