Bourbon, demerara, three dashes Angostura, fig leaf bitters or a fresh fig wedge muddled. The Old Fashioned for the autumn-into-winter swing.
Why you are pouring this tonight
The Old Fashioned is the cocktail least worth tampering with, and the cocktail people most love to tamper with. Coconut Old Fashioned. Maple Old Fashioned. Smoked Old Fashioned. There is no end to the variations and there is no need for them either, because the original recipe is a near-perfect drink that has been around for two hundred years and has not had to apologise for any of it.
And then we did this anyway. The Winter Old Fashioned uses a fresh fig wedge or fig leaf bitters in place of the orange wedge muddle, and the change is small enough that the drink is still recognisably an Old Fashioned, but big enough that you sit up and notice. Figs in Australia are at their best in late autumn into early winter (May, June, the first of July if your fruiterer is committed). The fig adds a quiet, jammy, slightly green-leafy note that takes the bourbon somewhere it has not been before. The drink is darker, heavier, slightly sweeter, distinctly seasonal.
Use a slightly sweeter bourbon as the base, Maker’s Mark at $58 from Dan Murphy’s is the right house bourbon for this. Wild Turkey 101 is a sharper choice and works if you want the drink to have a bit more bite. Avoid the wheated bourbons (Larceny, Weller) which become too round and lose the structural backbone the cocktail needs. Demerara sugar, not white. The molasses note in demerara plays with the fig in a way white sugar simply cannot match.
What to pour it alongside
Before dinner, with one square of dark chocolate, or after, with a slice of fig and walnut tart. It also pairs beautifully with a cheese plate where the centrepiece is a sticky blue (Roaring Forties, Berry’s Creek) and a hard aged cheese (Pyengana cheddar, Section 28 Mountain Man). The fig in the drink mirrors the fruit on the plate. The bourbon does the savoury work.
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Rye Old Fashioned
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Notes from the kitchen
Muddle the fig wedge with the demerara and a few drops of water at the bottom of the glass before any ice or whiskey goes in. Press, do not pulverise. You want to release the juice and break the flesh, not turn the fig into a paste. Bigger pieces of fig in the bottom of the drink are a feature, not a bug. They release flavour slowly as the drink sits. Add the bitters, then the bourbon, then the ice. Stir for thirty seconds with a long bar spoon. Express the orange peel skin-down over the surface and drape it over the rim.
If figs are out of season, use fig leaf bitters (The Bitter Truth, Bitter House, $35 at Cocktail Kingdom). Three dashes alongside the Angostura. The drink will not have the textural weight of muddled fresh fig, but it will hold the same flavour direction. A fig jam, half a teaspoon, is the third option if you have a jar in the fridge. Stir until dissolved before adding ice.
Two things that go wrong
Drink tastes too sweet
Too much demerara, or the fig was too ripe. Use one teaspoon of demerara, not two, and pick a fig that gives slightly to thumb pressure but is not yet split. The drink should taste boozy and warm, not like a dessert.
Cloudy or muddy in the glass
Over-muddled the fig, or did not stir long enough. Three or four firm presses on the fig is enough. Stir for a full 30 seconds over hard ice to chill, dilute, and clarify.
Variations worth knowing
Fig and Earl Grey
Steep an Earl Grey teabag in the bourbon for 90 seconds, remove. Same recipe with the tea-infused bourbon. The bergamot in the tea adds a citrusy lift that complements the fig.
Roasted fig version
Halve the fig and roast cut-side-up under the grill for 4 minutes until lightly charred. Cool. Use the roasted half in the muddle. The drink picks up a smoky, jammy depth that feels almost theatrical.
Fig and rye (the bigger version)
Swap the bourbon for Rittenhouse Rye Bottled-in-Bond. Drier, spicier, more aggressive. The fig becomes the calming influence rather than the showpiece.
Leftovers and make ahead
The drink is single-serve. The leftover muddled fig at the bottom of the glass is for eating with a small spoon at the end of the drink, like a final reward for your patience. If you have made fig syrup ahead (cooked figs in equal parts water and sugar for 15 minutes, strained), it keeps in the fridge for three weeks and can stand in for the muddled fig in fast service. One teaspoon of fig syrup in place of demerara gives you a faster but slightly less textured drink.
The recipe
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