The most successful new variation the Old Fashioned has produced, and unusually for a cocktail it has an author and a date: Phil Ward, at Death & Co in New York, around 2007.
⭐ The trick is that the mezcal is a seasoning, not the base. A full pour of mezcal makes a smoky drink. A quarter-pour makes a tequila drink with smoke in the nose, which is a much more interesting thing — and it is the same idea as smoking the glass, arriving through the bottle instead of through a smoking gun.
⚠ It is a New York bartender’s homage to Oaxacan spirits, not a drink that came out of Oaxaca. Worth saying plainly, because the Old Fashioned already has one origin myth too many.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 oz reposado tequila
- 1/2 oz mezcal (an artisanal espadín, not a mass-market smoke-flavoured product)
- 1 tsp agave nectar
- 2 dashes Angostura bitters
- 1 wide strip orange peel, for flaming
- 1 large ice cube
Directions
- Combine the tequila, mezcal, agave nectar and bitters in a mixing glass.
- Add ice and stir 20–25 seconds.
- Strain over one large cube in a rocks glass.
- Flame the orange peel: hold a wide strip skin-side down a few inches above the drink, light a match or lighter between the peel and the glass, and squeeze. The atomised oil ignites in a brief flash. Drop the peel in.
Notes
Agave nectar is sweeter and thicker than 1:1 simple syrup — a teaspoon here is doing roughly what a rich 2:1 syrup does, not what an equal volume of simple would. Do not substitute one for the other by volume.
On flaming. Whether it actually improves a drink is genuinely contested — the flame caramelises some of the oil and burns off some of the delicate volatiles, so it is a different aroma rather than a better one. On this drink, with agave and mezcal, the toasted note fits. On a bourbon Old Fashioned I leave it unflamed.
⚠ Do it with a short flame and a firm grip, away from the bottle. Hot citrus oil on the back of the hand is a real burn.
Mezcal varies enormously. An artisanal espadín and a mass-market smoke-flavoured product are not substitutes for one another.