Birthday joy: getting taken out to Needle and Thread for my birthday. Double birthday joy: having Brian make a fuss and create something even more special than usual. With $20-a-shot mezcal.
We’d gone out a few days ago to Tilth for another friend’s birthday. Their cocktail menu featured something called an Edgar Martinez – basically, a Martinez made with mezcal instead of gin. It warmed my Martinez-filled little heart, and I’m still working out the proportions for how to re-create it. (Stand by.) So I asked Brian what proportions he’d use. That somehow ended in me getting an original concoction that proved both his mixology skills and the point of paying for good booze.
Brian mentioned something called a Oaxacan Old Fashioned, which sounded interesting, so I looked it up. Hmm. Just mezcal, reposado tequila, agave nectar, and Angostura bitters. Sounds kind of like sweet tequila, to me. But whatever. I gave it a shot today. And yes. It was sweet tequila. Bleah.
This is what I did to avoid throwing away good liquor.
The French Oaxacan
1.5 oz reposado tequila (I used Cazadores)
.5 oz mezcal (I used El Zacatecano, Edgar Martinez’s brand, cuz I’m cheap)
.5 oz Dolin blanc
.25 oz agave nectar
2 dashes Angostura bitters
one dash mole bitters
10 drops Bitters Old Men “Smoke Gets in Your Bitters”
Put everything but the smoke bitters in a shaker with ice and stir. Strain into a cocktail glass. Float a thin orange wheel on the top and drizzle the smoke bitters. Think about how lucky you are that this didn’t end up tasting like brown crayons.
The smoke from the mezcal is still there, but I think next time I’d do 1:1 reposado to mezcal. (The smoke bitters were an effort to ratchet it up; you could probably leave them out if you went even bigger with the mezcal.) The Angostura gives it a bit of spice, and the Dolin blanc makes for a kind of sweet, floral finish, which oddly works. The mole bitters carry the middle with a bit of creamy chocolate. Or all this could be bullshit. What do I know? I wouldn’t throw it out of bed for eating crackers.
By the way, the Smoke Gets in Your Bitters is something new I found. It’s mostly Lapsang Souchong tea. Drizzling a few drops of this, brewed very strong, would probably work, too.
I’m still working on that Edgar Martinez, and I’ve also been fooling around with an Earl Grey tea-infused gin, courtesy of the wonderful Gregg at Knee High Stocking Company. More when I recover from all this tequila.