Old Fashioned
Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled old fashioned glass with a large ice cube. Garnish with an orange peel.
There’s something wonderful about the Old Fashioned. We don’t know exactly where the word “cocktail” came from, but there’s some evidence that it was first used in reference to this drink.
The Old Fashioned recipe lets you use any spirit your heart desires (although, vodka may not be the best choice) and we chose to use rye for this recipe.
There’s an interesting regional variation that is quite popular in parts of the United States that uses brandy, muddled orange slices, muddled cherry, and sometimes sweet and sour mix. As you might be able to guess, this creates a very different drink that we’ll tackle in a later post.
The original recipe calls for a sugar cube, but I don’t know many people who regularly stock sugar cubes in their pantry. I choose to use simple syrup because it’s easy and quick to make, most people have granulated sugar on hand at any time, and it mixes into the drink better.
In our recipe, I’m using Angostura Bitters to get a more classic flavor. Feel free to play around and use different bitters to change the flavor.
