Cocktail Recipe Cards

Classic · whiskey

Old Fashioned

Whiskey, sugar, bitters, and a big piece of ice. The drink every other cocktail is a variation of, and the card most worth getting right.

Old Fashioned

Stirred
  • 2 oz 60 ml Bourbon or rye whiskey
  • ¼ oz 7.5 ml Rich simple syrup · 2:1
  • 2 dashes Angostura bitters
Method Stir all ingredients with ice for 20–30 seconds. Strain over a large cube in a rocks glass. Express the orange peel over the drink and drop it in.
Glass Rocks · One large cube
Garnish Orange peel, expressed
1880s · Louisville Cocktail Recipe Cards
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Card updated September 7, 2026. Measures use 30 ml per ounce, the spec-sheet convention.

The spec

Two ounces of whiskey, a quarter ounce of rich syrup, two dashes of Angostura. That is the whole recipe, which is why the small choices matter more than they do anywhere else.

Rich syrup, not a sugar cube. The cube is traditional and it’s fine, but muddling it means the last sip is sweeter than the first as the sugar keeps dissolving. A measured quarter ounce of 2:1 syrup gives you the same sweetness on every card, which is the whole point of writing the drink down.

Bourbon or rye. Bourbon makes a rounder, sweeter drink; rye makes a drier, spicier one. Both are correct. If you find yourself dialing the syrup down with bourbon, try rye at the original quarter ounce before you change the card.

One big cube. Dilution is an ingredient here. A single large cube melts slowly enough that the last third of the drink is still a drink. If you only have small ice, stir a few seconds less and expect to finish it faster.

Where people disagree

  • Soda. A splash of soda water is a Wisconsin thing and an older-bar thing. It isn’t wrong, but it’s a different drink. If you like it, write it on the card as its own line so you don’t forget which version you liked.
  • Muddled fruit. The cherry-and-orange-slice mash is a mid-century habit. Most people who go back to the peel-only version don’t go back again.
  • Sweetness. A quarter ounce of 2:1 is roughly a teaspoon of sugar. Some cards say a barspoon. Between those two is where most people land; below it, the bitters start to dominate.

Make it yours

Keep the 2 : ¼ : 2 dashes skeleton and change one thing at a time. Demerara syrup instead of plain adds a molasses note that suits bourbon. A dash of orange bitters alongside the Angostura is the most common tweak and the most reversible. Split the base between rye and a smoky Scotch and you have a different card entirely, which is fine, because cards are cheap.

Whatever you change, write the change on the card before you taste it. The version you liked is the one you’ll fail to remember next month otherwise.

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