Classic Old Fashioned
A three-ingredient bourbon cocktail built on a sugar cube, a few dashes of bitters, and a fat strip of orange peel.
Prep: 3 min · Cook: 0 min · Total: 3 min · Serves: 1 · Difficulty: Easy · Rating: 4.8/5 (412 reviews)
INSPIRED BY
This is the canonical version of the original cocktail, the one bartenders started calling the "old fashioned" way to make a drink once everyone else started adding juice and seltzer. No restaurant to credit here, just the standard build that's outlasted every trend that came after it.
Story
My husband requested this on a Friday night in February, the kind of week where both kids had been home sick for three days and I'd watched the same cartoon roughly forty times. He said something like "can you just make me a real drink" and I realized I'd been making them wrong for years. I used to dump in too much bourbon, no real sugar work, and call it close enough. It was not close enough. The thing I got wrong for the longest time was the muddling. I'd toss in a sugar cube, add the bourbon first, and then try to mash a rock-hard cube through two ounces of liquid. It never broke down. You'd get to the bottom and find a little gritty pile of sugar that never went anywhere. The fix is almost annoyingly simple. Muddle the sugar with just the bitters and a splash of water first, before any bourbon goes in. Twenty seconds and it turns into a syrup right there in the glass. The other thing nobody told me: the orange peel matters more than the cherry. I used to skip it because it felt fussy. Then one night I actually squeezed the peel over the glass and watched the oil spray catch the light, and the whole drink smelled different before I even took a sip. Now I won't make one without it. I use a regular vegetable peeler to get a wide strip and try not to take too much white pith. We don't keep fancy bourbon around. I buy a mid-shelf bottle that costs around twenty-five dollars and it's completely fine here, because the sugar and bitters are doing real work. Save the good stuff for sipping neat. This is a slow drink. We make these after the kids are finally asleep, sit on the couch, and don't talk about the sick days. My husband says mine are better than the bar down the street now. The bar charges fourteen dollars, so the bar can relax.
By Casey
Ingredients
- 1 cube white sugar cube (or 1 tsp sugar)
- 3 dashes Angostura bitters
- 1 tsp water
- 2 oz bourbon
- 1 strip orange peel
- 1 large ice cube
- 1 brandied cherry, optional
Instructions
- Drop the sugar cube into a rocks glass. Add the bitters and the teaspoon of water right on top of it.
- Muddle until the sugar is mostly broken down and the bottom of the glass looks like wet sand, about 20 seconds.
- Add the bourbon. Drop in one large ice cube.
- Stir gently for 20 to 30 seconds to chill and dilute. Don't rush it.
- Twist the orange peel over the glass to spray the oils, rub it on the rim, then drop it in with a cherry if using.
Chef Tips
- If you only have granulated sugar, use a rounded teaspoon and give it an extra few seconds of muddling with the bitters and water so it dissolves instead of grinding around the bottom of the glass.
Cook's Notes
- **Sugar substitute:** No cubes? Use 1 tsp granulated sugar or 1/2 tsp simple syrup; skip the water if using syrup.
- **Make-ahead:** Batch the sugar-and-bitters base in a jar, then just add bourbon and ice per drink for a crowd.
- **Equipment:** A muddler helps, but the back of a sturdy wooden spoon works fine for breaking down the cube.
- **Common mistake:** Adding bourbon before the sugar dissolves leaves grit at the bottom; muddle sugar with bitters and water first.
- **Doneness cue:** Stir until the outside of the glass feels cold and the drink has lightened slightly from dilution, 20 to 30 seconds.
- **Ice:** One large cube melts slower than several small ones, so the drink stays balanced longer.
- **Peel tip:** Squeeze the orange peel skin-side down over the glass to release the oils before dropping it in.