golden beautiful

2 oz Reposado Tequila (Espolon)
1/4 oz Campari
3/4 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Vanilla Syrup (BG Reynolds)
1/4 oz Passion Fruit Syrup

Short shake all ingredients with 3 ice cubes and strain into a snifter glass with a large ice cube. Top with 1 oz soda water and garnish with grated lime zest.
Sunday night after my Yacht Rock Sunday shift, I turned to the Death & Co. Cocktail Book for a nightcap. There, I landed on Thomas Waugh's Golden Beautiful that he created in 2009. Once in the glass, it offered fresh lime oil aromas over that of the tequila notes. On the palate, a carbonated lime and passion fruit sip led into a more complex swallow with tequila, vanilla, Campari, and passion fruit notes. Again, Campari and passion fruit turned out to be a magical pairing as they have in drinks like the Novara, but what surprised me was how the flavor combination in this drink brought out a rather vegetal quality in the tequila.