Long Look Back

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (16 ratings)

Glass:

Serve in an Old-fashioned glass

Ingredients:
1 12 oz Straight rye whiskey (100 proof /50% alc./vol.)
34 oz Japanese blended whisky
34 oz Amaro (e.g. Braulio)
13 oz Demerara/Muscovado/brown sugar syrup (2 sugar to 1 water)
3 dash Angostura Aromatic Bitters
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Prepare:

  1. Select and pre-chill an OLD-FASHIONED GLASS.
  2. Prepare garnish of orange zest twist.

How to make:

  1. STIR all ingredients with ice.
  2. STRAIN into ice-filled glass (preferably over a large cube or chunk of block ice).

Garnish:

  1. EXPRESS orange zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 9/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 6/10

Review:

When first served, this is a challenging cocktail but time, and with it dilution, has a mellowing effect, producing a heavy but tasty digestivo or late-night sipper.

View readers' comments

History:

Adapted from a recipe created in 2018 by Kacie Lambert at Stay Gold (closed in 2019) in New York City, USA.

Nutrition:

One serving of Long Look Back contains 225 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 2.1 standard drinks
  • 29.15% alc./vol. (58.29° proof)
  • 29.4 grams of pure alcohol

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.

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George Jetson’s Avatar George Jetson
27th December 2025 at 20:38
Ingredients:

1 1⁄2 fl oz Straight rye whiskey (Barrell batch #4 57.85% alc./vol.)

1 fl oz Japanese malt whisky (Hatozaki Umeshu cask 46% alc./vol.)

3⁄4 fl oz Fernet (R. Jelínek)

1⁄3 fl oz Demerara gum syrup (Liber & Co.)

3 dash Aromatic Bitters (TBT)

Stir all ingredients with ice. Strain into a chilled DOF glass over a large cube of block ice. Express orange zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

It’s that time of year when we reflect on the year past. Personally, that called for a nice stiff drink. I keep thinking these are the Kintsugi times, so I wanted something with a Japanese flair.

I deviated from the original recipe by substituting Fernet for Amaro Braulio, which I didn’t have. The R.Jelinek nicely fills the gap between an Amaro and a minty Fernet. I substitute it frequently for an Amaro that has a clove, bittersweet profile.

The Hatozaki has a sweet character from being finished in Umeshu (plum wine) casks. I upped the ratio a bit to break through against the strong rye character of the Barrell #4.

The result is a nice sipper for contemplation. The Demerara gum syrup gives it a nice soothing feeling befitting the concept.
Marie-Therese Straus’ Avatar Marie-Therese Straus
6th February 2025 at 03:10
This is nice. I used Rittenhouse Rye and Meikakuna Japanese blended whisky. I did cut back a bit on the syrup as I made my own Muscovado syrup and it was quite rich (2:1). I might try it again with a higher quality Japanese whisk-something with a little more character. A lovely template, though.
kang hyun’s Avatar kang hyun
19th October 2024 at 12:37
Do I have to use Japanese blended whiskey? I'm curious because I'm not sure what flavor I'm expecting from Japanese blended whiskey.
Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
19th October 2024 at 13:07
No. Perhaps try with Irish whiskey.