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Tequila, stirred

One Chance Fancy

Barline 2,q,q,2,Ro

The code is the shorthand off my printed menu; the Key tab decodes every letter.

Stir with ice until cold, then strain.

Rocks, iced, orange twist.

Open in the menu

Taste

Two ounces of tequila, a quarter of orange liqueur, a quarter of sweet vermouth. The vermouth is the sugar; the orange liqueur is peel. Two dashes of Angostura. Stirred, rocks, ice, orange twist. It drinks as a tequila Fancy Cocktail, spirit first, liqueur as dressing.

History

Jerry Thomas prints the Fancy Brandy Cocktail in 1862 as the plain Cocktail strained into a wine glass with lemon on the rim: spirit, gum, bitters, and curacao. Brett Adams and Jacob Grier, in Raising the Bar (2022), still treat The Fancy as whiskey, orange liqueur, and bitters, an Old-Fashioned with a liqueur in the sugar slot. Neither the manuals before 1970 nor Difford's, Punch, or Imbibe print a One Chance Fancy. The version poured here puts the Fancy template on tequila, with a quarter ounce of sweet vermouth in the sugar slot, two dashes of Angostura, over ice with an orange twist.

Same shape, other bottles

The Fancy family, with the bottle that changed.

  • Alaskagin and Chartreuse for tequila and orange liqueur
  • Casinogin and maraschino liqueur for tequila and orange liqueur
  • El Caminomezcal, rye, and Bénédictine for tequila and orange liqueur
  • Fancy Freebourbon and maraschino liqueur for tequila and orange liqueur
  • Monte Carlorye and Bénédictine for tequila and orange liqueur
  • Fancy Cocktailbourbon for tequila

This is one drink on my home bar's menu. Tick the bottles you own and the menu lists which of all 185 drinks they pour.