Everything You Need to Know About the Mezcal Old Fashioned
Cinco De Mayo is here but it's not a real Mexican holiday, so let's skip the Margaritas, OK? Instead, try this Mexican take on the father of all cocktails, the Old Fashioned. Also known as a Oaxaca Old Fashioned, and sister cocktail to the Agave Old Fashioned, the Mezcal Old Fashioned substitutes mezcal for bourbon while keeping the simple syrup and bitters from the original recipe. Since mezcal is made from succulents, not grains, it has vegetal and fruit notes you don't usually find in grain-based spirits like bourbon. Mezcal isn't traditionally aged in barrels, so you don't get those sweet-barrel notes like aged whiskey, but the spirit does add elements of wood-smoke, due to the way agaves are roasted with wood and stone to make mezcal.
