Old Fashioned

Back in the day, it was just referred to as a cocktail, consisting of some sort of spirit, sugar, water and bitters. As drinking culture developed, the word cocktail came to refer to any sort of mixed drink. To get this now classic concoction, people had to ask their bartender specifically for “an old fashioned cocktail.”

Nowadays, if you walk into a bar or restaurant and order an Old Fashioned, it’s reasonable to expect a drink made from whiskey, sugar, and bitters, served in a rocks glass and garnished with an orange peel (and sometimes a cherry). However, depending on where you go, the drink you receive will vary wildly in terms of quality. In actuality, an Old Fashioned is an incredibly simple drink to make, but apparently it’s also pretty easy to make horribly wrong.

Below is as close to a “classic” recipe as you’ll get. Some bartenders will say to muddle a sugar cube with a touch of water– but when you think about it, that’s just a lazy way of making a syrup. I always have Demerara syrup made and stocked in the fridge, so it’s easier and more consistent to use this instead.

ingredients:

2 oz spirit (typically bourbon or rye whiskey)

1 teaspoon Demerara syrup

4-5 dashes aromatic bitters

2-3 dashes orange bitters

Orange zest and Luxardo cherries for garnish

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instructions:

Combine spirit, syrup and bitters in a mixing glass and stir with ice.

Strain into a rocks glass over a large cube.

Take a thick strip of orange zest between your fingers and gently squeeze it over the top of the drink with the skin facing toward the cocktail. This will release a light aromatic mist of citrus oil that will rest on the surface of your drink.

Garnish with the citrus zest and Luxardo cherries.

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