First of all, let's show some reverence. The Bourbon Old Fashioned is more than 200 years old. It's not just something your grandma drank. It's something her grandma's grandma drank too. Boy, your family really liked booze. Anyway, let's get mixing!
Ingredients
Sugar - 1/2 teaspoon. Use more if you don't care about your teeth.
Angostura Bitters - 3 dashes. Don't get crazy.
Water - 1 Teaspoon
Bourbon - 2 ounces
Garnish - Orange wheel or peel & maraschino cherries
Directions
Add the sugar and the bitters to the bottom of a rocks glass.
Add the water.
Stir.
Add ice.
Add the bourbon.
Stir again.
Garnish.
Sip.
Enjoy!
Repeat.
First documented in the Balance and Columbian Repository of May 13, 1806, first named as an Old Fashioned in the Chicago Times in 1880, and first published in the 1888 Bartender's Manual by Theodore Proulx, this is a venerable cocktail! A precise, narrow 4 component definition, but one that provides a universe of room for experimentation:
Spirit, Sweetener, Bitters, Water (intentional and/or via ice melt from stirring).
Yours is the classic bourbon Old Fashioned. But they can get wild: Dale DeGroff's Black Rose:
2 ounces bourbon
2 dashes Peychaud's bitters
¼ ounce grenadine, (1/2 tablespoon)
Flamed lemon peel, for garnish
Harry Craddock's Approve Cocktail:
2 ounces rye
2 dashes Dry Curaçao
2 dashes Angostura bitters
lemon twist
John Santer's Revolver:
2 ounces…