Old Fashioned
The original cocktail — spirit, sugar, water, bitters. Everything since is variation.
Ingredients
- 2 oz bourbon or rye whiskey
- 1 sugar cube, or 1 tsp demerara syrup
- 2 to 3 dashes Angostura bitters
- Splash of cold water (skip if using simple syrup)
- Large ice cube
- Orange peel, for garnish
- Brandied cherry, optional
Method
- Place the sugar cube in a rocks glass. Add the bitters and a small splash of cold water, then muddle until the sugar is mostly dissolved into a paste. (If using demerara syrup, skip the muddle.)
- Add the whiskey and stir briefly to incorporate.
- Add a single large ice cube and stir for another 15 seconds to chill.
- Express the orange peel over the surface and drop it in. Add the optional cherry.
Flavor
Whiskey-forward, lightly sweet, deeply aromatic. The bitters add layered spice that opens up over the first sip. The orange oil ties the spirit to the garnish.
History
First recorded by name in the Chicago Tribune in 1880, when bar patrons asking for a cocktail "the old-fashioned way" wanted to make clear they did not want the modern flourishes — cordials, syrups, ornate garnishes — that were creeping onto bar menus. The recipe is older than the name, dating to the earliest definition of a cocktail published in 1806: spirit, sugar, water, bitters.
Pre-Prohibition versions often used rye whiskey; the post-Repeal bourbon boom made bourbon the default. Both work. Rye is sharper and drier, bourbon is sweeter and rounder. Pick the spirit you actually want to drink straight.
Pairs With
- A good cigar
- Sharp aged cheddar
- Dark chocolate (70 percent or higher)
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