A Glass of a Novel Teqtonic

Some years ago, my beloved and I ventured to the murky depths of Broadway, Capitol Hill. Y’all might be too young to remember, but this was back when the Hill was gay and breeders kept to their side1 of the tracks2.

We sat at Poppy’s bar to eat and drink and be merry, even though it wasn’t Christmas. We stared at the bottles opposite us, and somehow we got in our heads that we should drink tequila. Karel, who was tending to us that night, suggested we sip the Casa Noble Reposado3 with orange slices dabbed in cinnamon. “It’s a thing in Europe.” We were, both of us, skeptical.

We dabbed, took a bite of the slice, and sipped.

Things changed for us that night.

When a man reaches a certain age, it is incumbent on him to learn to make his own god-damned drinks, drinks that aren’t simply shots or quick pours of a liquor and a mixer.

In memory of that night, I give you this: A Glass of a Novel Teqtonic4

  • A big ass glass
  • Two big ass ice objects
  • Two shots of a good mixing tequila5
  • Fever-Tree elderflower tonic
  • Orange bitters
  • Nostalgia
  • Cinnamon powder

Pour the tequila into the glass of ice. Pour enough tonic to submerge the ice cubes. Add several splashes of orange bitters, and sprinkle cinnamon.

Stare at the glass intently. Breathe in the scent. Remember.

Drink.

  1. he scowls, shaking his fist at the neighbors across the street. ↩
  2. to be delineated, one day in the distant, absurd future, by the Broadway Streetcar ↩
  3. No link because the website sucks. ↩
  4. Yes, a play on The Atlas of Novel Tectonics, which I naturally haven’t read. ↩
  5. You of course want a good tequila, yet not so good you’d enjoy it perfectly well drinking it straight. Milagros, at half the price of Casa Noble, is fine. ↩