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An agave-based old-fashioned with a wonderful hit of smokiness from the mezcal.
Like many cocktails, Philip's original recipe (of 45 ml Reposado tequila...
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
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.
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.
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.
Ever so slightly too sweet - read the comments before making. Would dial back the agave a touch to accommodate Fee Aztec bitters but otherwise a delicious sipper. A few grains of salt also lifted the flavour somewhat.
One of my all time favorite Old Fashioned riffs. Agave spirits are not usually my favorite, but in this application they shine. I also enjoy this with orange bitters, either instead of the chocolate or in addition to it.
One of my favorite Old Fashioneds, before I first recogniced this one, had invented a similar recipe for myself with 3cl tequila and 3cl mezcal with a dash of salt solution and grapefruit bitters instead of Angostura or Chocolate. Even in the official 4.5 to 1.5 I prefer to use grapefruit bitters and a dash of salt solution.
There's a reason this is a modern classic. A fantastic drink, although you need a robust tequila (or a mild mezcal) to keep the mezcal from dominating too much.
Agree with prior comment, much easier to stir agave syrup in with room temperature licores, then add ice cubes. No chocolate bitters, so used a few drops of our local Heritage Distilling Cocoa Bomb whiskey and a dash of orange bitters - delicioso for Dia de los Muertos!
Very flavourful cocktail. Must like Mezcal as the smoky taste does overpower. It does mellow down once the ice melts. After tasting, we added a splash of water was appeared, to me, to be much softer in flavour.
After having this cocktail at Alqimico in Cartagena, Colombia, I tried it by myself. I used a mild caramel syrup instead of agave syrup, which gave the cocktail an additional round flavour. But be careful, this syrup must be disssolved in tequila before putting ice in the drink ;-).
I made it with orange bitters instead of aromatic. I had it with burritos for lunch and loved it, but it was a tad on the sweet side. Maybe it's due to the orange bitters, but I'll try with 5ml agave syrup next time.
What a great cocktail for Día de los Muertos! Having no chocolate bitters on hand, I used Angostura as in the original recipe, but then had the inspiration to crumble some bits into the drink from a tablet of “La Soledad” Chocolate Almendrado (with almonds ground in, for making drinking chocolate, typical in Oaxaca) left over from a trip to Oaxaca. Perfecto!
Oh so good - I kept to the quantities but use Arette Anejo Tequila. so smooth and the Bobs Chocolate bitters are perfect in it. So smooth - a real sipper
Great! I use a little bit less agave syrup because it's a little bit too sweet for me otherwise. It's better to use a different sweetener because Mexico is getting destroyed by the agave syrup industry at the expense of Agave for Mezcal and the soil of the country in general.
I made it with Angostura, but I agree that the chocolate bitters sound like a great idea, and would reduce the agave slightly as a result too, but not too much because I don't mind a touch of sweet. I think a bar spoon is still the right amount.
The cocktail is very good but I would change proportion a little bit. I put 1 bar spoon of agave syrup (approx 5ml) and it is a bit too sweet but if you want to taste spirit i would put slightly less.
I really recommend some chocolate bitters as the person did in other comment I did it with fee brothers one and its really good. By knowing most of tequila are low on alcohol if the sweetness is too important you will not really appreciate the tequila. Jose Cuervo reposado and Ilegal Mezcal
Agreed. As per yours and other comments below, I have swapped out Angostura for chocolate bitters. However, I find Fee Brothers sweet rather than bitter and this may affect amount of sugar used, so I have also amended my comment above to account for this. Many thanks for the feedback.
Anonymous
28th June 2020 at 05:12
Such a simple combo but comes off really well.
Anonymous
29th May 2020 at 13:05
Also try this one with chocolate or molé bitters instead of Angostura! Amazing drink.