The Old Fashioned is “old fashioned” for a reason. It’s generally not a medium for radical innovation. “The Old-Fashioned is the Doric column of the cocktail world,” writes Wayne Curtis, author of And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails (released in a revised and updated version this past summer). Curtis adds: “It doesn’t cry out for experimentation.”
The main reason for the lack of experimentation is likely because the Old Fashioned is made of five simple ingredients: spirit, sweetener, bitters, ice, and a fruit garnish.
But even with the limited ingredients, there is still plenty of room for creativity, and second-level thinking. Think instead of the Old Fashioned as a framework, a chassis, a poetic structure, and you’ll soon see there are endless riffs. Just to illustrate how many different directions one can go, let’s deconstruct the cocktail by ingredient and see the possibilities.
The Spirit:
This is the most obvious ingredient to deviate from the norm. The pre-Prohibition Old Fashioned was designed for whiskey, and in fact its original name was the Whiskey Cocktail — it didn’t become known as the Old Fashioned until the 1880s at Louisville’s Pendennis Club. But just because bourbon is the original spirit, a great Old Fashioned can be made with tequila, genever, or brandy — in fact, the classic Wisconsin-style version of the cocktail has always called for brandy.
And, of course, one of the finest Old Fashioneds can be made with…rum.
Just focusing within the rum category, however, there are dozens of options and styles. Using Martinique rhum agricole or dark English-style rum will create two distinctly different Rum Old Fashioneds. Or perhaps experiment with layering of two or more rum styles.
The Bitters:
The classic bitter to use in an Old Fashioned is Angostura Bitters, with its spicy, herbal profile. But at this point in the evolution of the cocktail, we have dozens of other bitters to choose from.
Peychaud’s bitters is the usual choice for a Sazerac, but why not try it in an alternative Old Fashioned? In many Rum Old Fashioneds, orange bitters seem to work very well.
Further afield, we’ve seen great Old Fashioned variations made with maple bitters, mole bitters, cherry bitters, grapefruit bitters, and event celery bitters or pimento allspice bitters.
Also consider using more than one. “Don’t be afraid to layer bitters,” says Abigail Gullo, of Compère Lapin in New Orleans, for instance, adding a dash of citrus or chocolate bitters along with aromatic bitters.
The Sweetener:
A sugar cube or a teaspoon of white sugar is the default option. But why not play around with the Old Fashioned’s sweeteners. Brown sugar is an obvious substitution. Or try maple, agave, or demerara syrup. Or better yet, in your agricole-based Old Fashioned, why not try J.M Sirop, made from fresh sugarcane.
Moving further away from tradition, liqueurs offer a way to sweeten the drink without sugar or syrup. We’ve tasted delicious Rum Old Fashioneds with a little bit of ginger liqueur, Clément Creole Shrubb, or even a touch of Clément Mahina Coco coconut liqueur. The use of liqueurs brings us into a slightly grey area with purists: Is it still really an Old Fashioned? But why not push the boundaries?
Abigail Gullo of Compere Lapin, New Orleans, offers this advice with sweeteners: A little goes a long way. “Start using less than you think…then add more if you need,” she says. “It is much easier to make something sweeter than to make it UN-sweet.”
The Ice:
Dilution is an important part of any cocktail, but it is critical in the Old Fashioned. The ice you choose makes a huge difference. “The bigger the better for your old fashioneds,” says Gullo. “The bigger the surface area, the colder your drink can get without being lost to dilution.” But even that wisdom isn’t universal. In Wisconsin, for instance, crushed ice is called for in the local brandy Old Fashioneds.
Beyond size, think outside the cube. Why does an ice cube have to only be frozen water? Why not make ice cubes out of fruit juice? For instance, we’ve seen wonderful autumn Rum Old Fashioneds made with apple juice ice cubes. Citrus juice and tea can also work. Gullo even mixes an Rum Old Fashioned with cubes made from freezing coconut water.
The Fruit:
Whether or not an Old Fashioned is made with a citrus peel or muddled fruit is one of the great, endless cocktail debates. Even if you’re a traditionalist who likes a citrus peel, why limit yourself to orange? Great Old Fashioneds can be made with lemon, grapefruit, or kumquat twists. Even “tradition” is debatable. The traditional brandy Old Fashioned, the state drink of Wisconsin, calls for orange slices and maraschino cherries, muddled.
