After Wednesday dinner

After dinner, which Rich and I shared with Admiral Rick while sitting at the bar, a few others joined us for drinks. Watching Rick sip a very good tequila and a simultaneous brutal lapse in judgment lead me to order a Tequila Old Fashioned.

2 oz of a good tequila (I think I watched a Don Julio go in my glass)
1 tsp simple syrup (use agave syrup if you can find it in your international foods aisle)
2 dashes Angostura bitters (The Bitter Truth Xocolatl Mole bitters would be interesting, here)
Stir; rocks; lemon twist.

An Old Fashioned is any spirit treated with sugar and bitters over ice. By the 1880s when its title became more or less standardized, this was the old fashioned way of preparing a cocktail (as opposed to newfangled concoctions such as the Martinez, Manhattan, or Tom Collins). So a tequila old fashioned is totally legitimate. I chose it last night because
1) I'd never had one
2) I don't own any tequila good enough to sip
3) I suffered that judgment lapse.
Actually, I shouldn't sell this cocktail short. I didn't finish it more because it was late and I don't love tequila, not because it wasn't an excellent drink. I was very pleasantly surprised how nicely the sweetness of the syrup tamed the (to me) normal unpleasantness of the tequila. The bitters, as always, added character and depth to an already flavorful combination. Plus, the tequila was of excellent quality, so that was key. Will I order this again? Probably not. But this experience has influenced me to buy a good bottle of tequila and be prepared to serve a Tequila Old Fashioned to any tequila lover that ventures into my living room.