Cocktail Atlas

Old Fashioned

Whiskey, sugar, bitters and a little water, built over ice. The classic spec behind every Old Fashioned riff in the library.

Cocktail Atlas · Updated

Spirit
Bourbon
Glass
Old fashioned glass
Method
Built
Difficulty
Beginner

The riffs: Old Fashioned Variations

Spec source: IBA official cocktail list

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Old Fashioned

Ingredients

Ingredients for Old Fashioned. Tick each one as you add it.
AddedMeasureIngredient
1½ oz
1
a few dashes
a few dashes

Steps

  1. Place the sugar cube in an old fashioned glass and saturate it with the bitters.
  2. Add a few dashes of plain water and muddle until the sugar dissolves.
  3. Fill the glass with ice cubes and add the whiskey.
  4. Stir gently, then garnish with an orange slice or zest and a cocktail cherry.

Garnish Orange slice or zest and a cocktail cherry

cocktailatlas.com/cocktail/old-fashioned/

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Batch it For a party of 4–20

Makes 8 drinks, about 12 oz · 360 ml before ice.

Old Fashioned batch
AmountIngredient
12 oz · 360 mlBourbon or rye whiskey
8Sugar cube
a few dashesAngostura bitters
a few dashesPlain water

No added water: this drink takes its dilution from the ice in the glass. Chill the batch and build each glass over ice.

Fits one 750 ml bottle; a funnel helps.

Made it?

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Why it works

An Old Fashioned is whiskey seasoned rather than mixed. The sugar softens the alcohol’s edge, the bitters add spice and length, and the water helps the sugar dissolve and opens up the whiskey. Stirring over ice does the rest: it chills the drink and adds just enough dilution to make a strong spirit easy to sip, while the orange oils lift the nose.

Substitutions

  • No sugar cube? Use 1 bar spoon (about 5 ml) of simple syrup and skip the water.
  • Rich demerara syrup gives a rounder, more caramel-leaning drink than white sugar.
  • Rye makes it spicier and drier; a wheated bourbon makes it softer.

Variations

Questions

Should an Old Fashioned be stirred or shaken?
Stirred, or built and stirred in the glass as here. Shaking clouds the drink and adds air and extra dilution that a spirit-only cocktail doesn’t need.
Bourbon or rye?
Both are correct in the classic spec. Bourbon reads sweeter and rounder; rye is spicier and a little drier.
Do you muddle fruit in it?
Not in this spec. The orange and cherry are a garnish. Muddled fruit makes a different, sweeter drink.

Making it: Old Fashioned

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