Ingredients
- 1¼ ounces reposado tequila
- ¾ ounce mezcal
- ¼ ounce agave
- 2 dashes aromatic bitters
- 2 dashes orange bitters
- Ice
- Two orange peels for garnish
Instructions
- In a mixing glass, add ice, reposado tequila, mezcal, agave, and bitters.
- Stir rapidly to chill.
- Strain into rocks glass over fresh ice.
- Express one orange peel over the drink by twisting the peel between your fingers, then run colorful side of peel along rim.
- Garnish with second orange peel, first expressing over the glass before dropping it into the drink.
Variations and Substitutions
While there's not much available so far as swapping around ingredients, you can still play around with the flavors.
- Experiment with different ratios of tequila to mezcal, aiming to keep approximately a two-ounce total.
- If you don't have agave on hand, you can use honey, or if you want to keep it closer to a traditional old-fashioned, you can also use simple syrup.
- Opt for añejo instead of reposado, but avoid silver tequila as its tropical flavors don't quite fit the flavors of this old-fashioned riff.
- Skip the orange bitters in favor of lime or black walnut bitters.
Garnishes
If the orange peel garnish doesn't speak to your old-fashioned heart, consider a few others.
- Flame the orange peel for a deeper smoke and citrus flavor.
- Use a dehydrated citrus wheel or slice for a modern look, such as an orange, lemon, or lime.
- Use a cocktail cherry for a more luxurious, traditional old-fashioned flair.
- Cut the orange peel into shapes, such as a star, sphere, or diamond.
- Two garnishes together create an elegant look; a few combinations to consider are a lemon ribbon with an orange wheel or a cocktail cherry with a dehydrated orange slice.
About the Oaxacan Old-Fashioned
While traditional old-fashioneds have bourbon at their core, this riff has the smokey, complex, and sultry mezcal at its heart. Mezcal gets its signature smokey flavor from its production process that includes cooking over wood and charcoal in the earth, a step tequila skips.
The Oaxacan old-fashioned is an incredibly modern and contemporary cocktail, born in a young 2007 in New York City from the famous cocktail bar, Death & Co. This old-fashioned riff gets its name for the mezcal spirit at its core and the Mexican state from which most mezcal comes. Although named for the mezcal, the recipe also calls for tequila to help wary drinkers make the leap into the unknown, according to the bartender, Phil Ward.
Once a rarity, mezcal cocktails, and the mezcal spirit itself, have finally started to fly off of the bar and into the hands of eager patrons. You'd be hard-pressed to find a cocktail bar, or just about any average bar, without a single mezcal cocktail. Even whiskey bars have started to feature its cousin, the mezcal old-fashioned.
Make Mine Smoky
Skip the smoking gun or premium price for a smoked old-fashioned and choose a mezcal old-fashioned instead. It's quick build and mixing time aside, step away from the smoking gun and appreciate the easy, and flameless, things in life.
