Old Fashioned
There’s no shortage of people that will tell you there is a right way to make an Old Fashioned. Those people are as wrong as the ones proud to say that bourbon must be made in Kentucky.
Old Fashioned does not have a specific recipe. It’s simply an “old fashioned” way of making it a cocktail - with spirit, bitters, and sweetener.
This is the way I like to make it.
Ingredients
2 oz high-rye bourbon, at least 90 proof
2 dashes Angostura orange bitters
1 tsp 2:1 demerara syrup
Add one large cube of ice to a rocks glass. Pour ingredients over the ice and stir until combined. I add a Luxardo cherry when I’m feeling fancy.
Notes
The secret to a great cocktail (and everything else in life) is to achieve balance with great elements. There are a million Old Fashioned recipes out there. Most of them are okay.
However, an Old Fashioned that uses refined white sugar, whether cube or table or bar, misses the point. It chooses to watch life in black and grey as it passes by. You deserve better.
I use orange Angostura in lieu of an orange peel garnish because it’s easier.
Pitcher method
Ingredients
1/3 cup 2:1 demerara simple syrup
3 tsp Angostura orange bitters
1/2 cup spring or distilled water (do not use tap water)
A bottle of bourbon - prefer high-rye and 90+ proof
Makes 750mL
Prep - Make the syrup
In a small saucepan, heat up ⅓ cup water almost to a simmer. Stir in small amounts of sugar until it dissolves. Then repeat until you’ve added twice as much sugar by volume as the water you started with. Allow it to cool enough to work with it.
Easy Method
Decant the bourbon into a pitcher.
Add a funnel to the now-empty bourbon bottle. Pour in the syrup, bitters, and water.
Fill the funnel with ice, then pour the bourbon into the funnel until the bottle is full.
Do not add more ice during this process
There will be leftover bourbon
Remove the funnel, cork the bottle, and swirl the bottle to get the ingredients to mix. Refrigerate.
The Best Method
In a large pitcher, add most of the syrup and most of the bitters (80% is a good starting place)
Add in about half of the bourbon
Using a long cocktail spoon, begin stirring
Stirring is not a form of agitation. The intention is to swirl the liquid inside the pitcher so that the ingredients meld into each other.
Keep the spoon upright as you drag around the inside of the pitcher, maintaining contact with the inner wall.
Continue adding bourbon, continually stirring, tasting, and evaluating the balance. Add more of the other ingredients as appropriate.
Be careful not to take any ingredient too far. It’s very easy to add too much of something and then have trouble getting the cocktail back into balance.
When happy with the mix, use a funnel to bottle the cocktail. Refrigerate.
Enjoy whatever didn’t fit in the bottle.