Tequila Old Fashioned

You may have noticed an absence of photos on Urban Grain.  My digital camera has been broken since New Year's--it's a long story--and I'm figuring we'll probably join the smartphone society when our upgrade comes around in the fall.  So for now, you'll have to be entertained by my smart and witty prose alone.

I made a new drink last night, the Tequila Old Fashioned.  I picked up some Bittermans Xocolati Mole Bitters at DiBruno Bros. in the Italian market the other day, and sought to put them to use.  They are made in Brooklyn.  They make all different flavors that look interesting, e.g. their Grapefruit bitters uses hops to ramp up the citrus flavor.  I've read a bunch of compicated recipes using mole bitters, but the natural match has got to be tequila, right?  Mole is Mexican, Tequila is Mexican, you get the point.  The recipe I found is pretty straighforward but you could experiment.  The bitters quotient may seem hight but the Bittermans comes with a nifty dropper that allows for maximum control, so 6 drops is probably more like 2-3 dashes of another brand.  It's a neat recipe in that it's a mirror of a traditional old fashioned, which uses rye, sugar, and bitters.

Tequila Old Fashioned
2 ounces reposado tequila
1/4 ounce agave syrup
6 drops mole bitters

You could garnish this in different ways, I used some cilantro.  But maybe a jalepeno pepper?  An orange slice?  Or maybe some cactus!  If you want to get real cute you could infuse the tequila with jalepeno for a spicier version.  I was pretty happy with this, I used slightly more than 1/4 ounce of the syrup, which made it too sweet.  If anything I would round down on the syrup, maybe even 1/8 of a ounce to be sure not to over-sweeten.