Name: Rum Old Fashioned
Total time: 2 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 50 ml Aged rum (6-10yr); 10 ml White overproof rum; 7.5 ml Falernum liqueur; 2.5 ml Sugar syrup (2:1); 1 dash Aromatic bitters

Rum Old Fashioned
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Serve in an Old-fashioned glass

Ingredients:
1 ²⁄₃ oz	Caribbean blended rum aged 6-10 years
¹⁄₃ oz	White overproof rum (unaged Jamaican/funky)
¹⁄₄ oz	Difford's Falernum liqueur
0.08 oz	Monin Pure Cane Syrup (65.0°brix, equivalent to 2:1 rich syrup)
1 dash	Angostura Aromatic Bitters

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

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

The flavour of the overproof rum greatly adds to the character of this Old Fashioned. There are many rum Old Fashioned riffs but this is the recipe that made this cocktail both special and famous.

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History:

Adapted from a recipe created in 2009 by Gonçalo de Sousa Monteiro in Berlin, Germany.
See: Old-Fashioned cocktail history and variations

More cocktails by Gonçalo de Sousa Monteiro

Nutrition:

One serving of Rum Old Fashioned contains 196 calories

Alcohol content:

1.6 standard drinks
31.12% alc./vol. (31.12° proof)
21.9 grams of pure alcohol

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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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Showing 10 of 18 comments for Rum Old Fashioned.
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Caspian Berggren

24th May at 16:52

This is a lovely cocktail. It's not exactly recognizable as an "Old Fashioned", but it follows the traditional recipe and it absolutely works. The lime twist works better than the orange, though, melding wonderfully with the Falernum.

Dave D.

16th December 2024 at 03:01

Made with Ron Del Barillito three star, which is aged 6-10 yrs. Follow more of a plain method of a barspoon of pure cane simple syrup and angostura bitters, one good dash. Lime twist and a round cube…..excellent !

Terry Brennan

24th September 2024 at 00:32

Made this with Bolivar 8 and Plantation OFTD Overproof. Simply delicious. 5 star +.

Joe Cornwall

28th August 2024 at 15:57

The overproof rum really does make this. Just did a 500ml batch freezer door version using Doorly's 12, Wry and Nephew white over proof, Bitter Truth falernum and coconut water for dilution (pour straight from the bottle over ice, so dilution is needed for a batched cocktail). Really nice. I'm going to experiment with adding Stiggin's Fancy, too.

Peter McCarthy

16th June 2024 at 07:47

I really like the Maple Rum Old-Fashioned here on DG, but this is an interesting option if you want a boozier rum-based old-fashioned. I used Appleton Estate 8 and Wray & Nephew, so there was a fair amount of "funk", but overall enjoyable and as expected.

Yorey C

28th February 2024 at 04:52

R.L. Seale's 10 | Don Q | JDT Velvet ... didn't care for it with this rum.

Yorey C

4th July 2024 at 22:36

better with cane island guatemala

Asher Günther

10th October 2023 at 10:36

I used 6cl Plantation 3 Star, 1cl Orgeat, 1.25ml Bogart's Bitters (thanks to the amazing Difford's jigger), inspired by Jerry Thomas' Japanese Cocktail. I put a lime slice in the glass before stirring instead of a zest & it was stunning. Would recommend

John Hinojos

9th April 2023 at 03:35

Still love this since I really, really like rum. Used a Barbados aged rum and a Demerara 151 overproof. Did cut back on the sugar syrup by half (I was making two cocktails so it was easy). As before this was delightful. Liked using the darker overproof as it added more flavour and complexity to the cocktail Still a 5 for me.

Alex Powell

19th March 2023 at 08:34

Really very good. Having not made a rum old fashioned before I was drawn to the idea of blending rums to achieve a complete drink. I have made this as specced, yet it works very well with a wide range of rums if you play with the ratios: I really didn't think Pussers naval with Barbancourt 8* had any right to work. The Falernum (or equivalent) really is critical to success I think, along with the right garnish.