Old Fashioned

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (292 ratings)
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Serve in an Old-fashioned glass

Ingredients:
2 oz Bourbon whiskey
0.42 oz Monin Pure Cane Syrup (65.0°brix, equivalent to 2:1 rich syrup)
3 dash Angostura Aromatic Bitters
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

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

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 6/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 8/10
More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

Rich (medium-dry and spirituous this old-fashioned is all too easy to drink and fortunately, easy to make.

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Variant:

Old Fashioned (Difford's recipe with bourbon and rye whiskey)

History:

As with the Martini, the glass this cocktail is served in has taken the name of the drink. Its origin stems from the adaptation and renaming of a similar drink known as the Whisky Cocktail, which was shaken and served up. Who did the adapting and renaming is unknown. For the full story, see Old-Fashioned cocktail history.

Nutrition:

One serving of Old Fashioned contains 192 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.5 standard drinks
  • 29.4% alc./vol. (29.4° proof)
  • 21.6 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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Alexandros Bousoulegkas’ Avatar Alexandros Bousoulegkas
20th August 2024 at 11:37
I suggest you to try 50:50 peated whiskey:bourbon. My preferred recipe:
40ml Port Charlotte 10
40ml Elijah Craig Small Batch
15ml sugar syrup
3 dash Angostura bitters
Enjoy!
3
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Grey Goose’s Avatar Grey Goose
9th August 2024 at 20:41
Ahhhh....the ever elusive perfect old fashioned has come pretty close to perfection with this recipe. 5 stars!

Borderline too sweet for my taste with cane sugar so will try with demerrara sugar next time or reduce the cane sugar. Also thinking of maybe 'cutting' it with a dash of Rittenberg for some bite.
2
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Olga María Gómez Henderson’s Avatar Olga María Gómez Henderson
14th July 2024 at 12:02
Is okay to use rye instead of bourbon for this old fashioned recipe?
2
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Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
14th July 2024 at 18:04
Sure. A rye Old Fashioned is tasty.
1
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1 reply
Annechien’s Avatar Annechien
9th May 2024 at 21:00
I love this! Strong, sweet and extremely aromatic. Was sold on this cocktail after my first trial version and then went and bought a tray for making big ice cubes for the full old fashioned experience. It’s a drink I keep coming back to.
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Asher Günther’s Avatar Asher Günther
29th March 2024 at 09:32
Seems sweeter than most recipes. 0.5-1cl is the range I usually see (and recommend)
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Stephen Curtin’s Avatar Stephen Curtin
31st December 2023 at 10:57
To whoever may read this; if you haven't already tried it, stop what you're doing and make an Old Fashioned with Redbreast Irish Whiskey. Trust me it's delicious.
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Arif Ahmad’s Avatar Arif Ahmad
8th December 2023 at 18:11
One of the finest combinations there is. Apart from being the classic that it is in every way, it is easy to make, but getting it perfect, well that an entirely different story!
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Francis Talbot’s Avatar Francis Talbot
11th April 2023 at 03:22
Un classique! Excellent je recommande avec beaucoup de petits morceaux de glace et on peut faire fumer au bois d’Hickory!
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ASM 123’s Avatar ASM 123
28th March 2022 at 09:39
Has anyone tried pre batching Old Fashioneds? I measured the amount of dilution from a single OF to be c.20ml of water (from high quality big ice) so when I did 10x the specs (600ml Bourbon, 50ml of 2:1 Demerara syrup, 12.5ml Angostura) I then added 200ml of water. I put in the fridge for two days but when it came to serving, having shaken the bottle before pouring over big ice, it felt a bit over diluted/thin. Any ideas for correct water specs? Simon have you done an article on prebatching?
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Joseph Murray’s Avatar Joseph Murray
14th February 2023 at 23:27
15 ml water per serving works well pre-batching most stirred drinks (so 150 ml in your example)
2
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Fernando Yu’s Avatar Fernando Yu
25th February 2022 at 16:21
Classic mainstay for any evening!
2
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