By Simon Ho

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup hot water
4 fresh chili peppers (scored to allow hotness to seep out)
1.5 oz. tequila
0.5 oz. Cointreau/triple sec
1 oz. lime juice

1. Infuse simple syrup with chilies: Combine sugar, hot water and chili peppers, then pour into a squeeze bottle. Cool in fridge overnight.
2. Rim glasses with a mixture of chili pepper and salt. Shake tequila, Cointreau, lime juice and 0.75 oz. of chili-simple syrup over ice and pour into glasses. Garnish with a fresh chili pepper.

Simon Ho is a talented mixologist at Toronto's Drake Hotel. He and his delicious recipes are frequent guests at cocktail hour—for good reason! Find his bar gadgets at cocktailkingdom.com.