Old Fashioned Recipe — The Original Cocktail, Done Right
The Old Fashioned isn't just a cocktail — it's practically the definition of one. Spirit, sugar, bitters, water: the 1806 formula that named the whole category, and still the drink by which every home bartender is quietly judged. Here's how to get it right.
Old Fashioned ingredients
- 50 ml bourbon — Buffalo Trace for smooth vanilla, Bulleit for a spicier rye kick. Browse the full bourbon collection.
- 1 sugar cube (or 5 ml sugar syrup for an easier life).
- 2–3 dashes of aromatic bitters — Peychaud's and Fee Brothers are in the bitters collection.
- Orange peel — for the essential final flourish.
How to make an Old Fashioned
- Put the sugar cube in a rocks glass, soak it with the bitters and a teaspoon of water, and muddle until dissolved (syrup users: just stir them together).
- Add the bourbon and one large ice cube.
- Stir slowly for 30 seconds or so — dilution is an ingredient here, not an accident.
- Squeeze a strip of orange peel over the surface, skin-side down, so the oils mist the drink — then drop it in.
The mistakes to avoid
No muddled fruit salad, no soda water, no rushing. The Old Fashioned rewards restraint — which is exactly why it impresses. If tonight calls for something brighter, its citrusy cousin the whisky sour is one shake away.
Old Fashioned FAQs
Bourbon or rye? Bourbon gives a sweeter, rounder drink; rye — like Bulleit 95 Rye — makes it drier and spicier. Both are correct; moods vary.
Why one big ice cube? Less surface area means slower melting — the drink stays strong and cold instead of turning to whisky-flavoured water.
Everything above is in stock at The Bottle Club with next-day UK delivery — start at the bourbon collection.
