100 Best Old Fashioned Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What makes an Old Fashioned so good? ›

The best old fashioned recipes call for sugar to balance the alcohol. I use simple syrup, which quickly dissolves and is simple to make. It also allows us to play around and use brown sugar instead of white sugar for the syrup, giving our co*cktail a caramel-like flavor that works well with whiskey or rum.

The origin of the Old Fashioned can be linked to two distinct places, but its recipe remains mostly the same: the smooth taste of your favorite whiskey mixing with bitters, sugar and an orange peel. We trace the tangled web of whiskey history in this blog to find the origin of this favorite co*cktail.

I recommend a high-proof bourbon with bold flavor notes, so that its flavor will not be overpowered by the orange and bitters. Bitters: Angostura bitters are most commonly used in this co*cktail. I generally add about 3 to 4 shakes, but feel free to add as many as you prefer.

The Old Fashioned is arguably the most well-known whiskey co*cktail in the world. Essentially just a slug of bourbon that's been lightly sweetened with sugar and modified with a couple dashes of bitters, it's dead simple to make, but within this basic template is a world of opinions and flavor.

Use Rich Simple Syrup

The sugar cube is one Old Fashioned tradition that can definitely be skipped. While many recipes call for it, it offers no advantage over using a rich simple syrup and has several disadvantages. Most obviously, you have to find and buy sugar cubes and a muddler.

DO NOT shake an Old Fashioned, always stir it. This has nothing to do with temperature but everything to do with texture. Shaking it will add air and water, diluting the co*cktail too quickly. Since the drink is primarily spirit, all you have to do is gently stir with ice, allowing for a smooth, velvety texture.

There are few drinks manlier than an Old Fashioned. But the simple syrup in this staple (as well as co*cktails like a Whiskey Sour) isn't so simple, nutritionally speaking. “Just 1-ounce packs in over 5 teaspoons of added sugar,” Holthaus says. “And a 6-ounce Old Fashioned will cost you around 260 calories.”

The only other ingredients the drink requires—bitters and sugar—work together to enhance the spirit with a subtle sweetness. Over the years, the co*cktail has evolved to sometimes include an orange slice, club soda and/or a cherry, but they're not traditional to the drink.

Purists might disagree, but it's okay to put a little fruit in your Old Fashioned. We're not advocating for turning it into a fruit co*cktail, but a little cherry garnish, as long as it's the right cherry, is perfectly fine. And the right cherry is the Luxardo cherry.

A teaspoon of sugar in an Old Fashioned co*cktail has 16 calories. Angostura Aromatic Bitters, on the other hand, contain 44.7% alcohol by volume. One serving (2g) of Angostura Aromatic Bitters contains 12 calories. The best sugar cube to use is brown demerara sugar cubes.

How to order an Old Fashioned at a bar? ›

There's no wrong way to order an Old Fashioned, simply state what you want and how you want it. Start by saying the type of whisky you fancy, followed by any tweaks you want to make. It could be with a twist, an extra dash of bitters or syrup instead of sugar.

Simple syrup is superior.

It makes mixing and getting the appropriate amount of sweetness much easier. In our testing, turbinado simple syrup made the best Old Fashioned. We tested turbinado sugar, organic cane sugar, and regular cane sugar simple syrup side by side in otherwise identical co*cktails.

If you want to look like a local ordering an old fashioned in wisconsin, order it like this: “Can I have a brandy old fashioned sweet?” You'll ask it like a question because you're an uber-polite Wisconsinite, and you'll indicate your soda preference right in the order by adding “sweet”.

The widespread availability of the co*cktail has made it a deeply personal tradition for most Wisconsinites, often evoking deep-seated memories. “A brandy Old Fashioned was my first co*cktail with my dad,” says Hughes. “I definitely have had plenty of them, but every time you taste one, it brings you back.”

An Old Fashioned is a single-vessel, build-it-in-a-glass, stirred co*cktail. It's one of its most wonderful, versatile charms, as you can make an impressive version of it anywhere, anytime—in your home bar, on a plane with a sugar packet, on a picnic blanket.

Mix the co*cktail: Place the bourbon, simple syrup, and Angostura bitters in a mixing glass. Add the ice and stir with a bar spoon for 10 to 15 seconds. Strain the co*cktail: Strain the co*cktail into a rocks glass over one large ice cube, or cubed ice.

The vermouth adds earthy, spiced notes, contributing additional depth of flavor to a Manhattan, whereas the Old Fashioned is less complex and, as such, might be a better option for letting the whiskey itself shine.