The creator of the modern-day Tequila Sunrise, concocted and popularized in a Sausalito bar in the 1970s, has died.
Robert “Bobby” Lozoff, a longtime bartender at The Trident, a well-known bar, music venue and restaurant frequented by many celebrities, died earlier this month in Hawaii of unknown causes. He was 77.
Lozoff’s death was first reported by the Marin Independent Journal. Jeff Burkhart, a columnist there, said Lozoff’s longtime friend confirmed his death.
Lozoff and a co-bartender, Billy Rice, are credited with creating the “most famous and most popular version of the Tequila Sunrise,” according to a historic plaque denoting the milestone, which the Marin History Museum erected in 2023.
As the story goes, Lozoff served the drink to a member of the Rolling Stones in 1972, when the band was at The Trident for a party.
It was an immediate hit.
“I poured [the band member] the tequila sunrise, and you could sort of see the light go on in his head. Bingo. You don’t need a bartender to travel with you, just buy a bottle of Cuervo, a bottle of orange juice, and grenadine,” Lozoff recalled in 2016.
In some versions of the story, Lozoff first served the drink to Mick Jagger; in others it was Keith Richards. Either way, the bandmates loved it, taking the tequila, orange juice and grenadine drink with them on tour, quickly popularizing the combination. Their 1972 tour would become known as the Cocaine and Tequila Sunrise tour, spreading the drink “all around the globe,” the Marin History Museum plaque says.
An earlier version of the Tequila Sunrise is said to have been created in the 1930s or 1940s at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel, using tequila, soda, lime juice and créme de cassis — a heavy, red liqueur, according to Chilled Magazine. But Lozoff and Rice created today’s more ubiquitous Tequila Sunrise, using orange juice and grenadine for a beachy, ombré effect.
“Over the years, I had the great fortune to interview Lozoff on a number of occasions, and he wasn’t all that interested in his cocktail legacy — which is the opposite of how those things usually work,” Burkhart wrote in his column remembering Lozoff. But he said Lozoff had very fond memories of working at The Trident.
“It was a fun time, and I have no regrets,” Lozoff told Burkhart in 2012.
According to The Trident, this was Lozoff’s recipe for a Tequila Sunrise:
1 part Jose Cuervo Especial Silver
2 parts orange juice
1 tsp grenadine
From there, the recipe says, “pour tequila and orange juice into a glass, over ice. Then, slowly pour in grenadine. Enjoy in a way the Rolling Stones would approve of.”
