Name: Maple Old Fashioned
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 50 ml Bourbon whiskey; 15 ml Rye whiskey 50% abv; 10 ml Maple syrup; 1 dash Orange bitters; 3 drop Saline solution 4:1

Maple Old Fashioned
Jump to

Photographed in an UB 1910 Old Fashioned 10.5oz

Ingredients:
1 ²⁄₃ oz	Bourbon whiskey
¹⁄₂ oz	Straight rye whiskey (100 proof /50% alc./vol.)
¹⁄₃ oz	Maple syrup
1 dash	Orange Bitters by Angostura
3 drop	Saline solution 4:1 (20g sea salt to 80g water)

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill an Old-fashioned glass.
Prepare garnish of orange zest twist.
STIR all ingredients with ice.
STRAIN into ice-filled glass (preferably over a large cube or chunk of block ice).
EXPRESS orange zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

A spirit-forward sipper that's rich and easy with bourbon mellowed by maple syrup.

View readers' comments

Variant:

Maple Rum Old Fashioned

History:

I first encountered the bourbon-based Maple Old Fashioned in 2004 at Indigo Yard in Edinburgh, Scotland but in more recent years, rum seems to have taken over as the preferred spirit base to make a Maple Rum Old Fashioned. Whichever spirit base you use, makes a delicious riff on the classic Old-Fashioned.

Nutrition:

One serving of Maple Old Fashioned contains 195 calories

Alcohol content:

1.7 standard drinks
31.44% alc./vol. (31.44° proof)
23.7 grams of pure alcohol

More After dinner/digestif cocktails
More Autumn/fall cocktails
More Contemporary classic cocktails
More Hall of Fame & must know/try cocktails

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

Join the discussion

Showing 10 of 20 comments for Maple Old Fashioned.
See discussion in the Forum

Please log in to make a comment

Tyler Fleming

5th March at 03:23

I've been making this with 4 roses single barrel (high proof and high rye mash bill so I'm excluding the rye) and I am using a using cherry bourbon bitters and this is my favorite variation/adaptation of an old fashioned I've ever had

Chris Charman

2nd March at 20:00

A 50/50 Canadian club and smoke ardbeg with an orange blush made this excellent cocktail even better. Probably my fav

Bukunmi Aina

22nd July 2024 at 16:54

Floodwoods.com maple syrup and beer and some ice top it up, it was nice. thanks for showing me the new way

John Voice

24th June 2024 at 22:12

Just made this with Pikes Creek - was good- but not great - Tried again with a dash of normal Angostura plus the Orange bitters and was better more like a OF but still sweet will try with less Maple Syrup next around 7.5 ml

Annechien

27th May 2024 at 10:53

Mellow and fragrant. This is a nice drink but I find myself missing the spice and warmth of the classic old fashioned recipe. Could be that my bourbon is not up to the task. I’m new to this cocktail making business and I wasn’t sure how I felt about bourbon. So I played it safe and bought myself a budget-friendly bottle of four roses. I’m keeping an eye on the comments of other bourbon drinkers to decide what I should buy after I’ve finished with the four roses.

Alexander Timofeyev

9th October 2024 at 12:58

My go to for a regular Old Fashioned is Rittenhouse Rye.

For a bourbon Old Fashioned, I would go with a mid-tier bourbon such as Four Roses Small Batch, Elijah Craig Small Batch, New Riff Bottled in Bond, or for a more budget option Evan Williams Bottled in Bond or Old Grandad Bottled in Bond. In a cocktail where the spirit is so centered, the added flavor the mid-tier brings helps elevate the drink.

But you can also add spice and warmth by adding Angostura bitters instead of, or in addition to, the orange bitters. Bourbon + orange bitters is all about mellow, so turn to a rye whiskey (Rittenhouse) or high-rye bourbon (New Riff, Old Grandad) and Angostura bitters for warmth and spice.

John Voice

24th June 2024 at 14:28

Try a more Rye forward Bourbon or it could be the lack on Angostura Bitters in this recipe. I like Old Forester which in my opinion makes a great old fashioned - must try with Maple Syrup, I normally go with Rich Syrup but might mix a batch..

Chris Dimal

21st January 2024 at 12:43

A go-to. Whiskey and maple always go hand-in-hand.

Yossi Burg

10th October 2023 at 12:25

Made to Simon's recipe above last night- pretty damn good...roll on to this evening and same ratios (and using Makers Mark 46) but used 2 dashes of The Bitter Truth's Peach bitters in place of orange bitters. Wonderful aroma and wonder taste for after dinner.

Andy Parnell-Hopkinson

6th August 2023 at 18:44

Excellent. Use Canadian Club second time; not sure if it was better but it felt more appropriate.

Michaël Van Den Eede

21st January 2023 at 20:28

Indeed an easier-to-make version of the Benton's Old-Fashioned with bacon fatwashed Bourbon. Thanks!

Cocktailpixie

14th January 2023 at 20:26

To take this up a notch, I made bacon fat-washed bourbon (I used Maker's Mark) which works beautifully with the maple syrup. Served with a crisp cooked slice of the smoked streaky bacon laid over the top of the old-fashioned glass as a garnish.