One Of Mick Jagger's Favorite Cocktails Starts With A Smooth Tequila

Strolling down the boardwalk of Sausalito, California today, you might find it hard to imagine this tranquil, picturesque pier was once refuge to some of the biggest names in rock history. Yet there was good reason why many musical legends stopped in at the Trident — this was the restaurant that created the Tequila Sunrise and introduced the cocktail to Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger.

While the precise origins of the Tequila Sunrise are subject to debate, with some claiming that a version of the cocktail emerged in the 1930s, a plaque affixed to the Trident in 2023 by the Marin History Museum identifies the restaurant as the birthplace of "the most famous and popular version of the Tequila Sunrise". Bought in 1960 by folk-pop group the Kingston Trio and their manager Frank Werber, and renamed the Trident in 1966, the waterfront restaurant's stately white exterior belied its modernity. Speaking to National Geographic in 2012, former Trident bartender Bobby Lozoff remembered it as a "rock and roll haven".

Inside, beneath its famous psychedelic ceiling mural, Lozoff and fellow bartender Billy Rice experimented with new cocktails. Their most successful innovation was built in a chimney glass, and comprised of a shot of smooth tequila and a shot of sweet and sour mix, topped off with soda and orange juice, with crème de cassis and optional grenadine floated on top. Though more complicated than the standard mixture of tequila, orange juice, and grenadine we know today, this recipe would become the Tequila Sunrise.

One night in 1972, when the Trident was hosting a private party for the Rolling Stones, Lozoff inquired if Jagger had ever tried a Tequila Sunrise. "He said no," Lomas recalled. "I built him one and they started sucking them up. After that they took them all across the country."

It did not take long for the success of the Tequila Sunrise to spread beyond the Trident. By 1973, tequila brand Jose Cuervo recognized the mounting popularity of the cocktail, listing a recipe for the drink on the labels of its tequila bottles and releasing a pre-mixed canned version. The drink's association with rock and roll was further cemented when, later that year, the Eagles would record a song called "Tequila Sunrise" for their album "Desperado."

Sadly, the Trident's fortunes would prove more mixed. In 1980, the restaurant transitioned into a new incarnation entitled Horizons, before reopening in 2012 under its original name. The California institution was struck hard by the pandemic in 2020 because it did not qualify for the relief funding which helped other local restaurants endure. Despite being open for takeout, delivery, and outdoor dining while Sausalito residents were sheltering in place, the Trident never recovered. After serving its final drinks on New Year's Eve, 2025, the Trident closed permanently on Jan. 1, 2026.

You may not be able to get a Tequila Sunrise at the Trident anymore, but this simple three-ingredient cocktail is easy to prepare at home. If tequila is not to your taste, the spirit can be swapped out for vodka to make a Vodka Sunrise, a similarly refreshing and pleasingly colorful concoction. Watching the rich red of the grenadine slowly blend into the vibrancy of the orange juice, you might even imagine yourself sitting on the deck of the Trident, watching the sun rise over the San Francisco Bay.