mexican firing squad (carbonated)

2 oz Chinaco Blanco Tequila
1/2 oz Bittermens Grenadine
1/2 oz Lime Juice
2 dash Angostura Bitters
3/4 oz Water (*)
1/4 oz Simple Syrup (*)

Chill and carbonate to 45 psi; pour 4 oz into a cocktail coupe to serve. Garnish with a floated orange flower twist.
(*) For the shaken non-carbonated drink, leave the water and simple syrup out, shake with ice, and strain into a cocktail glass.

For drink of the day at Loyal Nine two Saturdays ago, we were running with a grenadine theme to showcase the new Bittermens syrup. Instead of doing a Tiki drink, I opted for the Mexican Firing Squad from Charles H. Baker Jr.'s 1939 The Gentleman's Companion which we had on the menu at Russell House Tavern a few years ago. Baker offered the Mexican "Firing Squad" Special's recipe with a description of how he and his group almost wrecked themselves on this libation at La Cucuracha Bar in Mexico City in 1937. His recipe was a bit more stiff with a double jigger helping of tequila balanced by the juice of two small limes and 2 tsp of grenadine and spiced with two dashes of Angostura Bitters; moreover, his drink called for a crushed ice presentation with orange, pineapple, and cherry garnishes. To one up the simple shaken/strained way we did it at Russell House, I made use of our house carbonation station and made the batch bubbly. To compensate for the ice melt that would have occurred during shaking, I added water, and to balance the carbonic acid generated during carbonation, I spiked in a touch of sugar syrup.