Old Fashioned Cocktail

Learn how to make the traditional Old Fashioned cocktail, how to choose the bitter, whiskey or rum, how to serve it and the best pairings.

BYIvan Della Nave ,

Bartender

19 November, 2021

serves for

ingredients

Rye whiskey

6 oz (60 ml) - Bourbon will do

Angostura bitters

2-3 drops

Sugar cube

Filtered water

1 barspoon

Garnish
Slice / orange peel and cocktail cherry.

Glass
Bass tumbler / old fashioned

Equipment
Bar spoon - muddler - dry scoop - jigger - fruit tweezers - orange peel

Method
Build

Step 01

Drop 1 lump of sugar into the glass.

Step 02

Pour 2 to 3 drops of angostura bitters into the glass.

Step 03

Add 1 barspoon of Acqua Panna.

Step 04

With a muddler, pound the sugar until it dissolves completely.

Step 05

Fill the glass with ice.

Step 06

Measure with the jigger and pour 2 oz (6 cl) of rye whiskey directly into the glass.

Step 07

Garnish with orange peel (removed with an orange peeler) and a cocktail cherry. The cocktail is ready to be served.

History
The first trace of the cocktail is available in the famous Jerry Thomas' Bartenders Guide of 1862 under the name of Old Fashioned Holland Gin Cocktail. Probably the Old Fashioned was created by the bartender of the Pendennis Club of Louisville, Kentucky, at the request of Colonel James E. Pepper, a well-known Bourbon distiller, between 1880 and 1881, who tried it for the first time in a bar in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.

Variants
There are no real variations of this cocktail, but as history teaches us, over time the recipe changed depending on the whiskey used.

Curiosity
The Old Fashioned cocktail is a bar classic and has always been included in all IBA cookbooks, from 1961 until today. It seems that its name derives from the type of glass in which it is served and not vice versa.