Old Fashioned Recipe per Person

Old Fashioned recipe scaling

The Old Fashioned goes back to 1880, a time when the word “cocktail” meant this exact drink and nothing else: 60ml bourbon or rye whiskey + 1 sugar cube + 2 dashes Angostura bitters + orange peel + cherry. Muddle the sugar cube with the bitters and a splash of water, pour in the whiskey, drop in a large ice cube, stir, and finish with orange peel and a Luxardo cherry.

For a group, multiply each part by the number of guests. So 8 people comes to 480ml whiskey, 8 sugar cubes and 16 dashes bitters. Use a decent bourbon such as Maker’s Mark, Buffalo Trace or Woodford Reserve, or go spicier with a rye like Bulleit or Rittenhouse. Pour it into a rocks (old fashioned) glass over one large ice cube so it dilutes slowly.

Applications

Few drinks say “gentleman’s cocktail” quite like the Old Fashioned, and it came roaring back once AMC’s Mad Men had Don Draper drinking them all through the 1960s. Use this calculator at whiskey tastings, in cigar lounges, at anniversary dinners, or on any classic cocktail menu where every glass needs to taste the same.

FAQ

Bourbon or rye? Bourbon, made mostly from corn, comes out sweeter and rounder. Rye runs drier and spicier. Try both if you can. Some bars will even pour you an Old Fashioned flight.

Why a large ice cube? A single 2" cube melts much slower than crushed ice, so the drink stays cold and waters down at a fraction of the speed.

Can I substitute simple syrup? Yes. 1 tsp (5ml) of 2:1 simple syrup stands in for 1 sugar cube, and it mixes faster when you’re making a big batch.