I was in the mood for some­thing to unwind the day’s bur­den. We had about a hour before our table was ready, so I wanted some­thing strong but mel­low. Usu­ally, I’d get a John­nie Walker Black on the rocks, but my buddy sug­gested an Old Fash­ioned. I hadn’t had it before, but our good friend Don Draper recently made one, so I was curious.

The bour­bon (Maker’s Mark) came through clearly, but wasn’t over­whelm­ing as the sweet­ness masked the bit­ter­ness, gar­nished with an orange and cher­ries. It went down easy, leav­ing me with a grad­u­ally build­ing buzz. Yes, this was the right choice, so we ordered another.

Later, I uncov­ered the magic ingre­di­ents, dat­ing back to the 1880’s from Louisville, Ken­tucky. Straight­for­ward, sim­ple, for­got­ten in the mind’s of many and rein­ter­preted many times over. Some­times, it’s nice to take down a clas­sic, some­thing dif­fer­ent from the reg­u­lar lineup, a refresh­ing step back from mod­ern bore­dom. Nos­tal­gia never tasted so good.

And now, you can have one too. Here are the drink’s recipe for success:

• Whiskey or Old Fash­ioned glass
• 1 sugar cube or a tea­spoon of crushed sugar
• 2 dashes of Angos­tura bitters
• Add some water to dis­solve the sugar, now mix
• Add 3 or 4 ice cubes
• 2 ounces of bour­bon or if desired, rye
• Stir and add gar­nish, twist. Some pre­fer orange or cher­ries or both

Now kick back, have an inter­est­ing con­ver­sa­tion with the brunette and you’re good to go. We’ll rec­om­mend a good liba­tion every now and then to help freshen up your rota­tion. If you have any rec­om­men­da­tions, feel free to let us know.

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Categories: Libations

Tags: alcoholic drinks, bourbon, cocktail, cocktail mix, cocktail recipe, Don Draper, drink recipes, johnnie walker, maker's mark, mixed drinks, old fashioned, recipes cocktail