- 2 oz bourbon
- 2 dashes bitters
- Sugar cube, orange peel
Classic cocktail
Old Fashioned
Bourbon · Bitters · Sugar
Whiskey, sugar, bitters and a little water: the first definition of a cocktail, and still the best argument for one.
- 1792 12 YEARS$69.99
- Aromatic bitters · not on the shelf today
The cocktail, as first defined.In 1806 a newspaper in upstate New York answered a reader who wanted to know what a cocktail was: spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters. That is the whole recipe. For most of the century a "whiskey cocktail" meant exactly this.
Old-fashioned, by request.By the 1880s bartenders were adding liqueurs and absinthe to everything, and drinkers who wanted the plain version started asking for an old-fashioned whiskey cocktail. Louisville's Pendennis Club claims the name, with a bourbon distiller named James E. Pepper said to have carried the drink to the bar of the Waldorf-Astoria in New York.
Today. Kentucky made it the official state cocktail in 2015. The bottle is the drink: a bourbon with some weight to it, a dash of bitters, and the patience to stir rather than shake.
- Bourbon1792 12 YEARS · $69.992 oz
- Aromatic bittersNot on the shelf today2 dashes
- Sugar cube, or ¼ oz simple syrupFrom your kitchen1
- Orange, for the garnishFrom your kitchen1 peel
- Ice, one large cubeFrom your kitchen1
Put a sugar cube in a rocks glass, soak it with two dashes of bitters and a splash of water, and muddle until it dissolves.
Add one large ice cube and pour 2 oz bourbon over it.
Stir for about 20 seconds, until the drink is cold and slightly diluted.
Twist an orange peel over the glass and drop it in. A cherry is your call.
Never muddle the fruit into it. The orange is a garnish, not an ingredient.
Same glass, one bottle swapped
Each a drink of its own, each bottle on the shelf tonightAlso on the wall
All 7- 1 oz gin
- 1 oz Campari
- 1 oz sweet vermouth
- 2 oz vodka
- 1 oz espresso
- ½ oz coffee liqueur
- 2 oz bourbon
- ¾ oz lemon juice
- ½ oz simple syrup
- 2 oz orange juice
- Sparkling wine to top
- 2 oz tequila
- 1 oz lime juice
- ¾ oz orange liqueur
- 2 oz white rum
- 1 oz lime juice
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