Tequila Old Fashioned: the reposado recipe, plus the Oaxaca version

Illustration — AI-generated. Not documentary photography.

An Old Fashioned is a spirit, a little sugar, bitters and ice. Swap the bourbon for reposado tequila and the sugar for agave syrup, and the drink keeps its shape. What changes is the flavor: the agave plant up front and the barrel behind it, where a whiskey Old Fashioned puts the barrel first.

The modern version traces to Phil Ward, who put reposado tequila and mezcal in an Old Fashioned glass at Death & Co in New York in 2007 and called it the Oaxaca Old Fashioned.

In this piece: Tequila Old Fashioned recipe · Reposado, blanco or añejo? · Why this bottle: Loca Loka Reposado · Three ways to change it · Tequila Old Fashioned FAQ · More tequila for an Old Fashioned

Tequila Old Fashioned recipe

Ingredients

• 2 oz reposado tequila
• ¼ oz agave syrup (equal parts agave nectar and warm water, stirred together)
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• 1 dash orange bitters
• 1 strip of orange peel

Method

1. Add the tequila, agave syrup and both bitters to a mixing glass.
2. Fill with ice and stir for 20 to 30 seconds.
3. Strain into a rocks glass over one large ice cube.
4. Squeeze the orange peel over the drink, skin side down, so its oils spray across the top. Rub it around the rim and drop it in.

Glass: rocks glass. Garnish: orange peel. Makes one drink in about five minutes.

Cut the agave nectar with water before you measure it. Straight from the bottle it's thick and sweeter than sugar, and it won't mix evenly into a cold drink. A 1-to-1 syrup keeps a couple of weeks in the fridge.

Reposado, blanco or añejo?

Tequila is graded by how long it spends in oak, and each grade makes a different Old Fashioned.

Reposado means "rested." By Mexican rule it spends at least two months in oak and less than a year. That's enough barrel to stand in for bourbon's oak while the tequila still tastes like agave, which is why it's the default here.

Blanco is unaged. It works, and it makes a brighter, sharper drink with no wood at all. Añejo spends at least a year in oak and less than three, so it lands closest to a whiskey Old Fashioned. If you're making one for a bourbon drinker, añejo is the easy bridge.

Why this bottle: Loca Loka Reposado

Loca Loka Tequila Reposado ($50) is our pick for this drink. Loca Loka says it uses only highland agave from Los Altos, in Jalisco, harvested at six years or older. The agave hearts slow-cook in brick ovens, then the tequila is double distilled in pot stills and rested in French and American oak for under a year. It's made at Tequilas El Mexicano in Arandas (NOM 1588, the distillery's registration number) and bottled at 80 proof.

The name is half Spanish and half Sanskrit: loca means crazy, loka means world. The founders are Indian actor Rana Daggubati and musician Anirudh Ravichander, and the label has a tiger and a bear playing mariachi instruments around a gold agave. Good conversation on a bar cart.

More reposados to try in this drink:

• La Sirena Reposado ($80), roasted in stone brick ovens, double distilled and rested in white oak
• Butterfly Cannon The Winged King Reposado ($80), which the brand says rests at least eight months in ex-bourbon barrels, a natural fit for an Old Fashioned
• Gran Agave Ghost Edition Reposado ($50), in a white ceramic decanter shaped like a ghost

For the añejo version below, there's Puntagave Double Barrel Añejo, Ceramic Edition ($130), made from highlands agave and bottled at 82 proof.

Three ways to change it

Oaxaca Old Fashioned

The drink that started it, in Phil Ward's proportions. Stir 1½ oz reposado, ½ oz mezcal, 1 barspoon of agave nectar (straight, not cut with water) and 2 dashes of Angostura with ice, then strain over a large cube. Mezcal is an agave spirit too, and most of it gets its smoke from agave roasted in pits in the ground. For the garnish, light a match, hold it a couple of inches above the glass, and squeeze an orange peel through the flame so the oils catch and spark over the drink.

Añejo Old Fashioned

Use 2 oz añejo and drop the agave syrup to a single barspoon, since the longer time in oak already rounds it out. Swap both bitters for 2 dashes of mole or chocolate bitters. Finish with an orange peel. This is the version to hand someone who swears they only drink bourbon.

Grapefruit reposado Old Fashioned

Make the main recipe, but use grapefruit bitters in place of the orange and a strip of grapefruit peel for the garnish. It's a little brighter and more bitter, and the grapefruit pairs with agave the way it does in a Paloma.

Tequila Old Fashioned FAQ

What's the best tequila for a tequila Old Fashioned?

A reposado. It has enough time in oak to take the place of bourbon's barrel and still tastes like agave. Our pick is Loca Loka Reposado at $50.

What's the difference between a tequila Old Fashioned and an Oaxaca Old Fashioned?

The Oaxaca Old Fashioned, created by Phil Ward at Death & Co in 2007, splits the base between reposado tequila and a half ounce of mezcal, which adds smoke. A tequila Old Fashioned uses tequila alone.

Can I use blanco tequila?

Yes. You'll get a brighter, sharper drink with no oak. Keep the agave syrup at ¼ oz and add a second dash of orange bitters.

Sugar or agave syrup?

Agave syrup. It mixes into a cold drink easily, where a sugar cube needs muddling, and it comes from the same plant as the tequila. Cut agave nectar with an equal amount of warm water first.

More tequila for an Old Fashioned

The reposados and añejos we'd stir into this drink are in our tequila for an Old Fashioned collection.

If you'd like a new tequila to stir into one every month, the Tequila-of-the-Month Club sends one.