Old Fashioned

How is Old Fashioned made?

The Old Fashioned starts with muddling a sugar cube (or simple syrup) with a few dashes of Angostura bitters in the bottom of a rocks glass, creating a sweet-bitter base that coats the glass. Add your whiskey of choice—bourbon or rye work beautifully—then fill the glass with one large ice cube or a few smaller ones. Give it a gentle stir to marry the flavors, then garnish with an orange peel, giving it a twist over the drink to release those aromatic oils before dropping it in.

How do you drink Old Fashioned?

An Old Fashioned is served over ice in a rocks glass, typically garnished with an orange peel and sometimes a cherry. This classic whiskey cocktail combines bourbon or rye whiskey with sugar, bitters, and a splash of water or soda, creating a perfectly balanced sipper that's meant to be enjoyed slowly. The drink itself is the cocktail—it's not a spirit you mix into other drinks, but rather a timeless preparation that lets the whiskey shine through with just enough sweetness and spice to smooth the edges.

How do I choose a good Old Fashioned?

The secret to selecting a great Old Fashioned starts with understanding your whiskey preference - whether you lean toward the spice and warmth of rye or the sweeter, vanilla notes of bourbon will completely shape your drink's character. Look for bars that use quality simple syrup or muddle their own sugar, ask about their bitters selection (Angostura is classic, but orange or walnut bitters can add interesting twists), and watch how they prepare it - a good bartender will stir with intention and express the oils from a fresh orange peel. If you're somewhere that offers house-made bitters or uses premium aged spirits, that's usually a sign they take their Old Fashioned seriously enough to deliver something memorable.

Nutritional Information

Typical Calorie Range per Ounce: 35-45 calories

Typical Carbohydrate Range per Ounce: 1-3 grams

Typical Sugar Range per Ounce: 1-2.5 grams

Typically Gluten Free: Yes

Note: While Old Fashioned cocktails are generally gluten-free when made with properly distilled whiskey, sugar, and bitters, we recommend checking detailed product information for all ingredients to confirm gluten-free status, especially with specific whiskey brands and bitters that may vary in their production methods.

Scrolled this far? Your reward? Old Fashioned Trivia!

1. The Old Fashioned got its name because bartenders in the 1880s were getting too fancy with their whiskey cocktails, adding fruit juices and elaborate garnishes. Fed-up customers started demanding their whiskey be made "the old-fashioned way" - just whiskey, sugar, bitters, and water. The grumpy traditionalists won, and we got one of the world's most perfect cocktails.
2. Wisconsin considers the Old Fashioned their state drink, but they make it completely wrong by most standards. Wisconsin Old Fashioneds typically use brandy instead of whiskey, get topped with Sprite or sour mix, and come loaded with fruit salad garnishes. Before you scoff, remember that Wisconsin consumes more brandy per capita than anywhere else in America - they know what they like.
3. The cocktail cherry sitting in your Old Fashioned was originally fresh fruit, not the neon-red maraschino we know today. Real marasca cherries from Croatia were preserved in maraschino liqueur until Prohibition killed the import trade. American companies started making "maraschino" cherries with domestic fruit, bleach, and red dye - creating the polarizing garnish that somehow became standard.
4. Don Draper's Old Fashioned preference in Mad Men was historically backwards. The show depicts 1960s advertising executives drinking Old Fashioneds constantly, but the cocktail was actually considered old-man territory by then. Martinis and highballs dominated the era - the Old Fashioned didn't become cool again until craft cocktail culture rediscovered it in the 2000s.
5. The "proper" way to muddle an Old Fashioned has started three separate bartender wars over the past century. Some insist you muddle sugar with bitters and water first, others say muddle everything together, and purists argue you should never muddle fruit at all. Each camp has legitimate historical backing, which means this argument will probably outlive us all.