Classic Cocktail How To: Make a Perfect Old Fashioned

The Old Fashioned, in many ways, sets the standard for cocktails. It may be the first drink ever actually called a cocktail, since that word’s oldest written use references a recipe using whiskey, water, sugar, and bitters. It’s name lends itself to an essential piece of drinkware, the old-fashioned (or rocks) glass, an 8 oz tumbler that house thousands of short, mixed drinks. And its very name, which comes from the Pendennis Club in Louisville, Kentucky in the 1880s, certainly posits it at the head of the cocktail table.

And they’re fun, and quite easy to make. Here’s how:

Old Fashioned

• 1 teaspoon sugar (or one sugar cube)
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• 2 orange slices
• 2 maraschino cherries
• 2 ounces bourbon
• Soda water

1. In an old-fashioned glass, muddle one orange, one cherry, the sugar, and the bitters with a bit of soda, then take out the orange rind.

2. Fill the glass with ice, then add the bourbon and top off with soda water.

3. Garnish with the other orange slice and cherry.