100 Best Old Fashioned Recipes (2024)

FAQs

Do you shake or stir Old Fashioned? ›

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.

Angostura is an aromatic bitters, but lean heavily toward cloves and dried cherries. I crafted our Old Fashioned Aromatic Bitters (the name kind of says it all) to be what I thought were the perfect bitters for an Old Fashioned. Ours lean more on cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg with only a touch of cloves.

An Old Fashioned calls for two to three dashes of bitters—no more, no less—that are added to the glass once the sugar or simple syrup is in. While the amount seems small, having too many or too few dashes can dramatically change the taste makeup of the drink.

Add the simple syrup and bitters to a large rocks glass and stir a few times. Add one large spherical ice cube and the bourbon, then stir about 20 times until cold with a bar spoon. Twist the orange peel over the drink to express the oil, then drop it in and enjoy.

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.

A classic Old Fashioned co*cktail calls for rye whiskey or bourbon. We like to stick with reliable, mid-range bottles. Four Roses is a fantastic everyday choice, especially for the price. Bulleit is popular, too (we've got their 10-year rye right now).

As mentioned earlier, the Old Fashioned is commonly made with either lemon or orange garnish. It's not uncommon now for folks to add a Maraschino cherry, though some feel very strongly that “fruit” does not belong in an old fashioned.

Do you muddle the cherry in an Old Fashioned? ›

Some bartenders drop in a slice of orange or a cherry right before serving, and others will muddle the fruit into the drink; sometimes it's served with no fruit at all.

What is the best bourbon for making an Old Fashioned? If you're looking to make a delicious Old Fashioned co*cktail, some top choices for bourbon are the Maker's Mark Wood Finishing Series, Jefferson's Tropics Aged in Humidity, and Larceny Straight Bourbon.

If it's a bit too sweet try another dash or two of bitters. Taste again. If it's too strong (alcohol seems overpowering) stir it a bit more to get the ice melting and make sure everything is mixed. If it seems to bitter add a touch more sugar.

An Old Fashioned is a stirred co*cktail. For a general rule of thumb, if a co*cktail contains only spirits, then you want to stir. If a co*cktail contains juice, dairy, or egg white, then you shake it. When building your Old Fashioned, combine all of the ingredients into a mixing glass before adding the ice.

If the co*cktail ingredients are mostly, or entirely, spirits (such as in a Manhattan, Martini or Negroni), you should stir. If a co*cktail includes juice (such as in a Margarita, Daiquiri or Cosmo), you should shake.

Why stir then? Stirring merely chills and dilutes a co*cktail whereas shaking additionally changes its texture. The ice, being violently shaken about inside the shaker, also aerates the drink with tiny air bubbles, which are held in suspension in the liquid, giving the co*cktail a cloudy appearance.