Name: Oaxaca Old-Fashioned
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 45 ml Reposado tequila; 15 ml Mezcal; 7.5 ml Agave syrup; 4 drop Cocoa bitters

Oaxaca Old-Fashioned
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Glass:

Serve in an Old-fashioned glass

Ingredients:
1 ¹⁄₂ fl oz	Patrón Reposado tequila
¹⁄₂ fl oz	Del Maguey Vida Clásico Mezcal
¹⁄₄ fl oz	Agave syrup (agave nectar)
4 drop	Angostura Cocoa Bitters

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Prepare:

Select and pre-chill an OLD-FASHIONED GLASS.
Prepare garnish of orange zest twist (flamed).

How to make:

STIR all ingredients with ice.
STRAIN into ice-filled glass (preferably over a large cube or chunk of block ice).

Garnish:

EXPRESS flamed lemon zest twist over cocktail and use as garnish.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

An agave-based old-fashioned with a wonderful hit of smokiness from the mezcal (depending on your choice of mezcal).

Like many cocktails, Philip Ward's original recipe (45ml reposado tequila, 15ml mezcal (Del Maguey Chichicapa or San Luis del Rio), 7.5ml Agave syrup, and 1 dash Angostura Aromatic Bitters) has evolved, with chocolate bitters, or more recently, cocoa bitters now favoured by many in place of aromatic bitters (as per the recipe above).

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History:

Created in 2007 by Philip Ward at Death & Co., Manhattan, New York City.

More cocktails by Phil Ward

Nutrition:

One serving of Oaxaca Old-Fashioned contains 154 calories

Alcohol content:

1.4 standard drinks
28.36% alc./vol. (56.72° proof)
19.2 grams of pure alcohol

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Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Showing 10 of 27 comments for Oaxaca Old-Fashioned.
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Chris Dimal

6th May at 11:52

Used Ango Cocoa as well, and it turns out like some agave-chocolate nougat. Absolutely delightful, with the mezcal really reining the sweetness. Truly delightful.

Simon Difford

19th May at 17:39

Agreed! I've switched to cocoa bitters, rather than chocolate bitters.

Yossi Burg

18th June 2025 at 13:52

A favourite- and been experimenting with bitters -so far Angostura Cocoa bitters is the winner with LARGE orange twist.

Matt Burnham

11th April 2025 at 14:54

Substituted Giffard orgeat for the agave syrup and was very happy I did. Absolutely delicious.

Morten Carlsbaek

5th April 2025 at 21:37

I just stirred it without all the fuss and really liked this mellow, full-bodied tequila nightcap!

Justin Aniello

17th February 2025 at 01:20

Simple and delicious, I kept the agave as is but I also used a high smoke mezcal.

Patrick Valentino

13th January 2025 at 01:13

I've typically made with angostura but just came across this one with chocolate bitters. Which makes sense. Maybe I will have a second one tonight to compare? On a school night no less

Annechien

18th December 2024 at 19:24

Oh my. I didn’t expect to like this so much. I was saving this recipe for 2 special bottles of tequila that I got as a present. I do like old fashioned, but I was afraid I wouldn’t like the smokiness. No worries there. This is spectacular. Really wonderful with the orange and chocolate flavours.

John CARR

2nd November 2024 at 13:25

This is something quite special. Not a big tequila or mezcal drinker, making it more so. I did knock back the agave to 5ml for my palate, even with bob’s chocolate bitters. As Florian points out, easiest to dissolve agave in the spirits before adding ice.

John CARR

2nd November 2024 at 13:26

Deservedly a modern classic.

Charlie Forbes

1st November 2024 at 22:23

I was stuck w/o orange peel and used grapefruit instead - no matter, as the cocktail was still truly excellent and a rare 5 for this bar.

Jiri Nechleba

8th March at 17:40

For me, grapefruit is the better match - my garnish of choice for an Oaxaca Old-Fashioned.

Matt

27th October 2024 at 03:02

One of my favorite cocktails - I really like the tequila/mezcal combo. I don't know if the chocolate bitters add much, and I do advocate for adding some saline solution (I added 5 drops) - think of it as a sub for a salted rim on a margarita.