The Immortal Old Fashioned

"Spirits, bitters, water, and sugar" is how the first published definition of word cocktail appeared in the early ninetenth century. In our house, three specific cocktails rule the roost - Trader Vic's Original 1944 Mai Tai, the Mojito, and the Old Fashioned. The Mai Tai's recipe is sacred and as such, honored quite literally. We flex a bit more poetic license with the Mojito, experimenting with various aged and spiced rums. The Old Fashioned however has always been a free form canvas of experimentation and exploration.

Officially, an Old Fashioned is comprised of whiskey, bitters, water, and sugar. We have tried countless variations of whiskey, bitters, and sweeteners through the years but have settled on the following permutations:

Bitters: Peychaud's OR half Angostura, half Bittermens Orange Cream Citrate OR half Woodford Reserve Spiced Cherry bitters, half Bittermens Xocolati Mole chocolate bitters
Sweetener: Pure Maple Syrup OR Brown Sugar Syrup OR Agave Nectar
Whiskey: Equal parts - straight rye whiskey, feisty bourbon whiskey and smooth bourbon whiskey
Rye Whiskey: I tend not to fret too much over which rye I use here. Knob Creek, Wild Turkey, Rittenhouse, and Old Overholt have all worked well for us
Feisty Bourbons: Old Grandad 114, Knob Creek Single Barrel, Wild Turkey 101, Evan Williams Bottled in Bond, Fighting Cock
Smooth Bourbons: Four Roses Small Batch, Buffalo Trace, Larceny, Russell's Reserve 10 year, Eagle Rare

Typical Proportions and Technique
In a cocktail shaker, I pour a tablespoon of sweetener (just under a tablespoon if using agave nectar). I then add 3/4 of an ounce of each - rye whiskey, feisty bourbon, smooth bourbon - for a total of 2.25 ounces of whiskey. Five to six dashes of bitters and give everything a good stir and taste.

If it's too sweet, add a bit more whiskey and bitters; if it's not sweet enough, a bit more sweetener. Personally, I like the concoction to taste bold and assertive in terms of alcohol and bitters and not leaning towards the sweet side. Once you are pleased with the taste, add a handful of ice and, my apologies Mr. Bond, stir vigorously for thirty seconds.

I prefer my Old Fashioned served straight up, so I strain the mixture into a glass. If you prefer a bit more dilution as the cocktail spends time in the glass, feel free to leave a few cubes in the glass. An orange twist is the traditional garnish but only one garnish is necessary in my glass - a skewer of three Luxardo cherries (and maybe a dash of the luscious syrup they reside in).