Old Fashioned

Why you are pouring this tonight

The Old Fashioned is the cocktail equivalent of a well-cut blazer. Four ingredients, no hiding place, looks like a million bucks, takes thirty seconds. It is what you make when you want someone to take you a little bit more seriously.

It also happens to be the single best cocktail in existence for cutting through char, smoke, and fat. Which, if you are Australian and it is winter, is most of what you want to be eating. Slow-cooked lamb shoulder. Dry-aged steak. Anything off a Weber that has crust on it. The Old Fashioned sits down next to all of that and goes “mate, this is going to work”.

Make it at home, in a proper glass, and stop thinking about it.

What you need

60 ml whisky. Rye is traditional and the drier, spicier play. Bourbon is softer, sweeter, more approachable. For your first bottle, go bourbon. Buffalo Trace is a classic. Four Pillars Australian Bourbon-style whisky is very good if you want to drink local. Scotch technically works but gives you a different drink with a different name.

One sugar cube, or 5 ml sugar syrup. I use syrup. Cubes are for show. The drink does not know or care.

Two to three dashes of Angostura bitters. Any more and you are making bitter water. Any less and you are pouring warm whisky. It is genuinely a three-dash situation.

Orange peel. Wide curl, no pith. The peel is non-negotiable. The cherry is optional. Do not use cocktail cherries from a jar of radioactive red syrup. Luxardo or nothing.

One big ice cube. One. Not five small ones. One slow-melting cube keeps the drink cold without flooding it. Silicone sphere moulds are five dollars on Amazon and change your life.

How to make it

Combine. Whisky, syrup, bitters into a rocks glass. No shaker. No mixing glass. Directly into the drinking glass.
Stir. Add a small handful of ice cubes and stir for about 20 seconds with a bar spoon or a butter knife. You are chilling and diluting, not bruising.
Strain. Pour the chilled drink over your one big ice cube in a second rocks glass. Or, easier, swap in the big ice cube to the first glass and lift out the small ice. Either works.
Garnish. Cut a wide piece of orange peel. Hold it over the drink and twist firmly. You are spraying the oils across the surface. Rub the peel around the rim and drop it in. Add a cherry if you are feeling it.
Drink immediately. Do not sip politely. This is a reward drink.

Dinners that pair with this

What to cook when this is in the glass.

Slow-braised lamb shoulder

Depth meets depth. Bourbon's caramel tracks the slow-braised meat.

Dry-aged ribeye

The steakhouse classic. No other drink comes close.

Smoked brisket

Barbecue food. Smoke to smoke to sugar.

Pork belly with fennel

Fat, fennel, whisky sweetness. Three notes, one chord.

Dark chocolate with sea salt

Post-dinner move. Stronger than a digestif, simpler than dessert.

Browse every dinner on the site

Three variations worth knowing

Same frame, different paint.

Rye Old Fashioned

Rye for bourbon. Spicier, drier, less sweet.

Maple Old Fashioned

Sub sugar for 10 ml grade-A maple syrup. Autumn in a glass.

Smoked Old Fashioned

Smoke the glass under a cloche for 30 seconds before building. Theatrical, delicious.

Bottles worth buying for this

Budget $70 to $120 for a starter bourbon. Buffalo Trace at the lower end. Four Pillars Bourbon-style Aussie whisky at the upper end. Both work beautifully.

Angostura bitters are under $20 and last a year. Buy one.

Cocktails, Recipes