The Dagobah Slug Slinger cocktail is a rosemary ginger margarita that pays homage to my favorite cosmic cocktail at Oga’s Cantina in Hollywood Studios. The bar is set back in Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge, an exceptionally themed land that transports you off of earth and into the outer realms of the galaxy.
Drinking at Disney is all fun and games until they take your favorite cocktail off the menu forever, never to return. That’s exactly what happened to me when the menu at Oga‘s Cantina at Hollywood Studios got an update in late 2024. Only a handful of drinks were taken off the menu, but unfortunately, my favorite one was one of them. 😭 Luckily, while Disney recipes tend to be secret, if you know how to do a little digging (which I do, WDW rice krispie recipe to prove it) you can actually re-create the magic at home yourself!
It’s a sludge green margarita, but don’t let the color fool you, because it’s a delicious blend of of citrus juices, ginger, and rosemary. And unlike my usual favorite silver margarita, this cocktail is made with a reposado tequila— a tequila that’s been aged up to 12 months. The light aging gives the drink even more earthy and woody undertones, highlighted by the rosemary and ginger infused syrup. It’s a seriously well balanced drink, which is probably why it didn’t last on the Disney menu. Tourists sure do love their sweetened juice cocktails, am I right?! 😭
why this rosemary ginger margarita recipe works:
🚀 galactic greatness. Replicated from a top-themed destination, right in your home kitchen. No theme park ticket required!!
🥳 party perfect. This cocktail is easy to batch. One recipe of the slug syrup will get you 10-12 cocktails, making this perfect for a party!
⚖️ balanced flavor. Unlike theme park cocktails, this drink is actually balanced in flavor. Not too sweet, not too tart, and the perfect kick of tequila, too!
🪐 what’s the deal with Dagobah?
Personally, I can’t ever think of Dagobah without being reminded of the viral video “Seagulls (Stop It Now!)” by Bad Lip Reading, where Yoda asks Luke to carry him like a backpack while he runs. 😂 But if you’ve been living under a murky moss-covered boulder, here’s a quick rundown of the significance of this planet for you!
Dagobah is a planet in the Outer Rim of the Star Wars galaxy where Yoda exiled himself when he failed to defeat the Sith Lord Darth Sideous. This dark and dank planet evokes spooky mangrove vibes with it’s foggy marshes and swervey twervey trees (yes, that’s a very technical arborist term 🤓). It’s noted as being “bog-covered” and absent of any developed civilization, so it was the perfect place for Yoda to retreat to. The planet is known for being strong in The Force, and that comes into play when a certain young Jedi-in-training crash lands in a swampy marsh.
One of the few inhabitants of this planet are swamp slugs! Similar to Earthbound slugs, these Dagobah swamp slugs secrete a slime, and that slime is the main ingredient in “slug syrup” at Oga’s Cantina! Thankfully, we can replicate the flavor here on Earth, without a trip to remote galaxies needed. 😉
📚the backstory of developing this Disney drink at home
(aka everyone’s favorite part of food blogs!)
Since there is SUCH a big backstory to this drink and the planet of Dagobah, this drink has to work overtime to evoke the swampy vibes with a murky green color and creepy weepy foliage. Rosemary is just the herb for replicating the scraggly vegetation you might find in the fog-covered wetlands of Dagobah! It’s both woody and herbal, and gnarled earthy ginger root complements the flavor of rosemary perfectly, too!
I decided to step up the rosemary flavor in multiple ways by garnishing the drink with a sprig of rosemary and also brushing a rim of rosemary salt along the edge of the glass. In the “Disney official“ recipe, there’s only a fractional amount of rosemary used in making their syrup (seriously, one small sprig), which won’t possibly imbue the necessary flavor to make rosemary a standout star in the drink.
The foundational flavor of this drink comes from a blend of citrus juices, and another weird thing about the “Disney recipe“ is that it didn’t have any grapefruit at all. But countless conversations with multiple bartenders (and you know…my own taste buds) confirmed grapefruit was an critical component of this concoction. When making the marg at home, I experimented with grapefruit in many forms, and I think I found the perfect blend by using a little bit of zest in the syrup and then fresh juice in the cocktail itself.
🛒 ingredients
for the slug slinger cocktail
for the slug syrup
In addition to the grapefruit zest noted above, you’ll need:
See the recipe card for the exact quantities.
🍳 step-by-step process for making your slug syrup + dagobah cocktail
for the slug syrup
1: Heat water in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, then add the granulated sugar and stir until completely dissolved. Add in the ginger and rosemary and simmer at medium-low heat for 10-15 minutes.
2: Remove from heat and add the grapefruit zest. Allow your syrup to continue to infuse off the heat.
3: Let the mixture cool and infuse for at least an hour, up to three hours.
4: Strain your syrup through a fine mesh sieve and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
for the cocktail
5: If desired, rim a portion of your glass with lime juice and gently dip into rosemary salt. Fill the glass with ice to chill.
6: Add large ice cubes to a cocktail shaker. Pour in the reposado tequila, slug syrup, fresh orange juice, lime juice, grapefruit juice, blue curaçao, and a few dashes of bitters.
7: Shake vigorously for 15-30 seconds!
8: Strain the cocktail into the prepared glass. Garnish with a sprig of fresh rosemary and a dehydrated lime wheel, and serve immediately.
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💡tips & tricks for getting it right
🍽️ serving tips
- get the garnish – I love garnishing drinks with ingredients that are actually in the drink, which lets people know what to expect with each sip! A nice sprig of rosemary, dehydrated lime wheels, and even a small rim of rosemary salt on the glass all make wonderful garnishes. You can also make herbal ice cubes, like rosemary ice cubes, to step up your creativity in your garnish game!
- Halloween parties – the swamp water color of this herbal margarita is absolutely perfect for Halloween parties, when you need a spooky cocktail that still tastes good.
- Star Wars celebrations – sure, this drink is slimy and perfect for Halloween, but don’t forget the ties to Galactic voyages! It’s a great cocktail for May the Fourth or Revenge of the Fifth. Plus, it’s a margarita, so it works double-duty on Cinco de Mayo as well!
ℹ️ troubleshooting tips
- fill to the top with ice – filling your cup all the way to the top with ice, even before topping it off, ensures that the cocktail has a LOT of ice to melt into the drink. This keeps the flavor balanced as you sip! The Disney recipe actually included water as an ingredient, but using crushed ice achieves a similar effect.
- fresh is best – fresh citrus juice has the brightness and depth that just gets lost in store-bought varieties, even the refrigerated ones. If you do need to use store-bought juice, I recommend a high-quality brand such as Natalie‘s, To ensure that your drinks get the best flavor. Fun fact, a lot of Disney bars use Natalie‘s juices! Avoid shelf stable juices like the plague yeah there was a little lemon and lime shaped bottles. Sure are cute but they really don’t belong anywhere near your drinks and that’s a hill. I’ll die on!!!
- too sour, acidic or bitter – if your citrus juices are a little past their prime, you could end up with a drink that’s bitter, acidic, or sour in flavor. You can add a bit more simple syrup to the mix, and you can also add in a few drops of homemade saline solution. The salt helps to neutralize bitter or acidic flavors in just a few drops!
⚖️ scaling tips
- big batch – making this margarita for a party? You can mix up a big batch in a pitcher or airtight storage container, but don’t store it for longer than 24-48 hours maximum. Fresh citrus juices are best consumed within a day or two of squeezing the fruits.
♻️ customize your Star Wars cocktails!
- more herbaceous – prefer a more herbal drink? You can place a sprig of rosemary into the cocktail shaker as you mix the drinks, to help give an extra boost of herbal flavor.
- bubbly – want a sparkling margarita?! Add a bit of ginger beer to your drinks to cut the strength of the cocktail and add an additional kick of ginger flavor for a margarita-mule mashup!
- mocktail – if you want to make a mocktail version of this drink, you can skip the tequila and use water or a non-alcoholic spirit alternative from brands such as NKD, Free Spirits, or Almave. You can use just a drop of blue food coloring in a small glass of water, then use 1/2 teaspoon of the blue water, or you can purchase an alcohol free blue curaçao syrup, too!
🧰 equipment needed & storage tips
🫙 can you store leftover margaritas?!
If you are prepping your drinks in advance or have any leftovers, you can stash your drink in teh fridge for up to 48 hours, as long as it’s in a well-sealed airtight container or bottle. Avoid storing your slug slinger for over 48 hours. The fresh citrus juice can turn sour after a few days.
Got leftover slug syrup?
Any leftover infused syrup will last for up to 2 weeks in the fridge, or you can freeze it for longer term storage!
💬 q+a
Is this the official Disney recipe for a Dagobah Slug Slinger?
Nope. Here’s why…There is an “official recipe” available in the Black Spire Outpost cookbook and I was able to obtain the same official recipe from Disney myself, but the ingredient list did not match up to my taste buds and the information I got from the bartenders at Oga’s Cantina. For instance, the official recipe says there are 2 ounces of orange juice and 1 ounce of lime juice, and 1 ounce of…water. 🙃
Because of this, I used the Disney recipe as a guideline in my recipe development. I suspect that Disney uses commercially made syrups (there are rosemary syrups and ginger syrups available, so they probably mixed these two), and they may have even used grapefruit bitters in place of grapefruit juice.
BUT! I would be utterly shocked to find out there was actually zero grapefruit in their recipe, because it had such a strong taste of the citrus fruit, and more than one bartender confirmed this for me!
Can I use blue food coloring instead of blue curaçao?
I don’t recommend it. I prefer using a small amount of blue curaçao because I know it’s the right amount of blue. A drop of blue food coloring may be TOO blue, which can turn your drink into a more teal color than swampy green. If you want to leave out the blue curaçao, you can use a drop of blue food coloring in a small amount of water, then add just a 1/2 teaspoon of that blue water!
Can I used dried rosemary and dried ginger to make the syrup?
I recommend using fresh herbs for maximum flavor payoff. Dried herbs don’t have the bright flavor qualities of fresh herbs, because they’ve usually been sitting on a shelf for years and years, even before they reach your pantry!
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Dagobah Slug Slinger (Oga’s Cantina Rosemary Ginger Margarita)
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Equipment
- 1 cocktail shaker Boston shaker or standard cocktail shaker
- cocktail glass
- 1 jigger or measuring beakers for precise measurements
- 1 small saucepan for making the syrup
- 1 citrus juicer such a reamer, manual press, or electric juicer
- 1 fine mesh sieve for straining the syrup
- microplane for grapefruit zest
- airtight storage bottle for storing syrup
Ingredients
FOR THE SLUG SYRUP
- 10 g rosemary about 6 small sprigs, use mostly leaves, don't include thick stems in weight
- 7 g ginger 1/2 inch piece, peeled and roughly chopped
- 200 g sugar 1 cup
- 2 g grapefruit zest about 1 tsp, from 1/2 of one large grapefruit
- 237 g water 1 cup
FOR THE COCKTAIL
- 1 oz orange juice freshly squeezed
- ½ oz grapefruit juice freshly squeezed
- ½ oz lime juice freshly squeezed
- 1 oz slug syrup from above recipe
- 2 oz reposado tequila
- ½ tsp blue curaçao about 2 ml
- 3 dashes citrus bitters such as orange or grapefruit
- rosemary salt optional, for garnish
- rosemary sprig for garnish
- dehydrated lime wheel for garnish
- ice crushed, for cocktail and large cube, for shaker
Instructions
FOR THE SLUG SYRUP
- Heat water. Heat water in a small saucepan over medium low heat.237 g water
- Dissolve sugar. Add the granulated sugar and, continue to heat over medium low heat until completely dissolved.200 g sugar
- Add herbs and spices. Add the rosemary and the ginger. Simmer over medium low heat for 10-15 minutes. Be careful not to allow the mixture to boil. A low simmer is fine, but you don’t want a rolling boil.10 g rosemary, 7 g ginger
- Taste + adjust if needed. Give the syrup a taste to see how the flavor is developing. If you prefer to have more rosemary or ginger, you can add it now and continue to gently infuse it over heat for an additional 10-15 minutes.
- Add zest + infuse while cooling. Once the syrup is the flavor you like, remove it from heat and add the grapefruit zest. Allow your syrup to cool and infuse off of heat for at least an hour, and up to three hours.2 g grapefruit zest
- Strain + store. Once the syrup is finished cooling and infusing, strain it through a fine mesh sieve or cheese cloth and pour it into an airtight storage bottle for storage. Store your finished syrup in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
FOR THE COCKTAIL
- Prep glassware. If desired, rim a portion of your glass with lime juice or simple syrup and gently dip it into rosemary salt. Fill each glass with ice to chill the glass.rosemary salt, ice
- Add ingredients to shaker. Add large ice cubes to a cocktail shaker. Pour in the tequila, slug syrup, orange juice, lime juice, grapefruit juice, blue curaçao, and bitters.1 oz orange juice, 1/2 oz grapefruit juice, 1/2 oz lime juice, 1 oz slug syrup, 2 oz reposado tequila, 1/2 tsp blue curaçao about 2 ml, ice, 3 dashes citrus bitters
- Shake to combine. Vigorously shake your cocktail to combine all ingredients well.
- Strain into glassware. Pour into your glass, filling almost to the top, then add more ice to ensure the cup is full top-to-bottom!ice
- Garnish + serve. Garnish each drink with a fresh sprig of rosemary and a dehydrated lime wheel. Serve immediately.rosemary sprig, dehydrated lime wheel
