There are comfort foods – and there are comfort drinks. An old-fashioned is one of those comfort drinks. From the first sip to that last drop you know this is what you’ve needed. It has that perfect blend of citrus, sweet, bitters, and booze. It goes down smoothly. You wait a bit, and then you know that things really are going to get better.

Old-Fashioned Cocktail

Directions:

1. Add 5ml demerara syrup to a beaker
2. Next, add 4 dashes of Angostura bitters and mix with demerara
3. In a separate container, add orange and lemon peels to 1 tsp of H2O and muddle and strain into the beaker
4. Strain into an old-fashioned glass
5. Add one large ice cube
6. Add 2 oz bourbon over an ice cube and stir (my favorite Woodford Reserve)
7. Add Woodford Reserve maraschino cherry.

          Old-fashioned recipes abound, so if you find this recipe a bit too sweet, seek out another. There are plenty to choose from.

     If I’m serving an old fashioned as an aperitif, I leave out the sugar, orange, and the cherry). I keep the bitters, lemon peel, water, and the bourbon (or rye whiskey).

     The above old fashioned recipe can serve as an after-dinner drink. But instead I’d rather satisfy my sweet cravings with a decadent dessert.

• As you can see by the bar setup, this is a busy little drink, but well worth the time.
• Regarding the sweetness, I like demerara sugar. It has a caramel taste and comes as either a granular, a cube, or as a syrup. I like the smoothness of the syrup, and it seems to incorporate itself into the drink much better. My recipe calls for 5ml, but if they like a sweeter drink, make it with 10ml. Remember, if you’re adding a cherry, that will also add sweetness. And if they want it really sweet, put in a spoonful of the cherry liquor.
• The bitters range from 4 dashes up to 16 dashes. If they aren’t aware of the taste of bitter, give them a taste from a teaspoonful.
• The fruit is from the rind of lemons and oranges. Cut the rinds, so there is very little pith and about the size of a half dollar. Put them in a cocktail shaker, add about 10ml of water, and then muddle with a muddler until it is well macerated. Then strain with a fine strainer into the beaker that contains the sugar and the bitters. With the muddler, press the rinds getting all of the juice you can.

     When we are serving our guests an old-fashioned, we try to concoct the drink to satisfy their tastes. And then, when we get it right, we put their personal recipe on file, so the next time they arrive, we can serve the old-fashioned ‘their way.’

The return of the classic old-fashioned cocktail.

Thank you, Don Draper.