Mixology at Home – Turkish Tobacco Bitters
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - Any bartender will say “You can’t have an old fashioned cocktail without bitters.” But tobacco bitters? How can this be good?
A couple of weeks ago I had an interesting old fashioned using Turkish tobacco bitters.
I questioned it but why not try it? It worked. I never would have thought tobacco bitters but the bitters does go well with bourbon or scotch.
Now, instead of just mimicking that drink I did an internet search for other combinations and mezcal kept coming up for tobacco-flavored cocktails.
I’m not a mezcal fan but again, why not? Still, I had to get past my penchant for brown liquor to embrace this agave spirit.
I found a YouTube video by Martigan Drinks … not sure who the mixologist is … that is styled like an old fashioned. He called it coffee and cigarettes. Trust me, it doesn’t taste like cigarettes.
Ingredients
- 2 oz mezcal
- 1 oz coffee liqueur
- 2 dashes Turkish tobacco bitters
- Orange peel
Directions: Add to a mixing glass with ice, mezcal, coffee liqueur and tobacco bitters. Stir to mix and chill, then strain into an old fashioned glass with a large ice cube. Squeeze an orange peel over the drink to release the oils and drop the peel into the drink as garnish.
Note
Since I’ve never used mezcal I wasn’t sure of what brand to buy, and I am not comfortable with a lot of internet reviews. I didn’t want to buy an expensive bottle of mezcal just to have it collect dust in the back of my bar, but at the same time, if I went cheap and didn’t like the drink, I wouldn’t continue to experiment with mezcal.
Long story short, my wife is a tequila fan, so I spent a couple of dollars for a good bottle of mezcal.
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