How to Make an Old Fashioned

The Old Fashioned is the oldest cocktail still worth arguing about — and the template nearly every spirit-forward drink borrows from. Spirit, sugar, bitters, ice. Master those four and you understand half the cocktail canon. Overbuild it, and you've muddled a fruit salad into good whiskey.

The spec

• 2 oz bourbon or rye
• 1 sugar cube, or 1 tsp simple syrup
• 2–3 dashes Angostura bitters
• Orange peel, to finish

How to make it

Drop the sugar cube into a rocks glass and soak it with the bitters and a small splash of water. Muddle until the sugar breaks down. Add one large ice cube and the whiskey, then stir for 20 to 30 seconds — long enough to chill the drink and soften its edges with a little dilution. Express an orange peel over the surface to release the oils, then drop it in.

Bourbon or rye?

Bourbon gives you a rounder, sweeter drink; rye keeps it dry and a little spicy, which is how the drink was built before Prohibition. Neither is wrong. If you only stock one bottle for this, make it a 100-proof rye — it holds up to the ice.

The one rule

No muddled oranges, no cherries drowned in syrup, no soda. The Old Fashioned is a test of restraint. If your version needs fruit to be drinkable, the whiskey is the problem, not the recipe.

The glass

This is a spirit served on a single large rock, so it wants weight and a wide mouth. Our engraved rocks glass is built for exactly this pour.

Want the recipe on the wall? The Old Fashioned spec print lays out the build in clean type. And if you're still stocking your bar, start with our guide to building a home bar.