Whiskey, sugar, and bitters are the basic ingredients of an old fashioned, but what happens if you get 11 different bartenders to make their version of the same cocktail? From the luxury of the Plaza Hotel to home mixologists, see how these bartenders put their own spin on the classic old fashioned.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00So, an old-fashioned, essentially, is going to be whiskey, it's going to be sugar, and
00:22it's going to be bitters.
00:23When it comes to making a good old-fashioned, there are a number of factors.
00:27Number one, I want it not too sweet.
00:29I know people say that a lot, but it is so true in the old-fashioned.
00:32Number two, the spirit that I use.
00:34I want the proof to be up there.
00:36I don't want an 80 proof, I don't want an 86 proof whiskey.
00:39That's great for shaking whiskey cocktails, but I've got to get up to the mid-90s on my
00:42proof, or even 101.
00:44This is a spirit-forward cocktail.
00:46So, the first thing you're going to use in an old-fashioned is bitters.
00:49Bitters are the spice rack of your book.
00:51I love the spice that comes with Angostura bitters, so I'm going to use three dashes
00:56of them.
00:57This is going to give you that punch with that spice that's been mixed.
01:00It's 200 years old.
01:01This is the most tried and true one that there is.
01:04How much bitters do you want to use?
01:05That's up to each person.
01:06That is always different.
01:07Next is the sugar.
01:09Traditionally, people would use sugar cubes back in the day and muddle that until that
01:13was dissolved.
01:14Nowadays, we have syrups.
01:15I'm going to use a Demerara syrup.
01:16This is a two-part sugar to one-part water by weight concoction.
01:20We say to use a quarter of an ounce in this.
01:22I don't go all the way up to that quarter ounce line because I don't want it to be too
01:26sweet.
01:27The argument on the whiskey, you can do bourbon or do you want rye?
01:31We can do either.
01:32Bourbon's going to be a little more sweet, so people who want a little more kick and
01:34spice are going to choose rye.
01:36I'm going to use a rye right now.
01:37This is 90.4 proof.
01:39It's probably the lowest end of what I would go with on this one.
01:42How much whiskey are we going to put in here?
01:44We're going to do two ounces.
01:45We're going to fill it up.
01:46I want to get to that meniscus, so it just goes right up over the edge and boom.
01:51We have all of our ingredients in here.
01:52What do we need?
01:53Ice.
01:54Vanilla ice.
01:55Ice.
01:57We're going to stir it.
01:58We're not shaking it.
01:59We want the slow dilution on there.
02:00We don't want to make this a water whiskey cocktail.
02:03When I put this on your table, I want you to see a beautiful block of ice that has not
02:07been melted down at all.
02:08We have a stamp because branding of ice has become very vogue in the current climate.
02:12We've got the PB for Pebble Bar here.
02:15Once I've stamped that, there's going to be water at the bottom of that.
02:17I want to dump that water out.
02:19We have our old fashioned.
02:20If I've done it well, it's perfectly diluted, not too sweet, already cold on that block
02:25of ice.
02:27Every old fashioned you get should come with an orange twist.
02:30What we do and some other places do is we also add a lemon twist.
02:33Ready to go?
02:34I give you our old fashioned.
02:37An old fashioned has to start with muddled fruit.
02:39A lot of the young bartenders now put the cherry and the orange, the sugar and the bitters
02:43in it and they do a twist and you don't get the flavors of the fruit the way you should
02:48be.
02:49If you gave me an old fashioned that didn't start with muddled fruit, I'd send it back.
02:52So we're going to take our cherry and put the cherry in the glass and take a slice of
02:55orange.
02:56We're going to take some bar sugar.
02:57Bar sugar is a quick dissolving sugar.
02:59It doesn't matter if you mix it with cold water, hot water, it dissolves instantly.
03:02Now we're going to take our angostura bitters, do a couple of dashes in there, get your muddler.
03:08The fruit has to be macerated.
03:09Then you're going to pour your bourbon in.
03:12Woodford is an extremely smooth bourbon.
03:15And then you're going to put a splash of club soda on top just to cut the sweetness.
03:19And then you're going to put some ice cubes in.
03:22And there you go, there's your old fashioned.
03:25Modern tropical bars usually tend to have really fun, unexpected ingredients.
03:30Today I'm going to be making the Spam Fried Rice Old Fashioned.
03:32We're going to be starting off with angostura bitters.
03:34Every old fashioned should have angostura bitters or some sort of bitters substitute.
03:38It brings a little bit more balance to the sweet and the spirit that you're using.
03:43So we're switching up the traditional sugar base by using a toasted rice syrup that we
03:47make in house, emulating the flavors of fried rice, as well as a little bit of cane to give
03:51it a sweet undertone, but not an overt sweetness that you get from traditional simple syrup.
03:56Now for the fun stuff.
03:57In a tiki bar like Paradise Lost, we love split basing our spirits.
04:01Split basing is a technique where instead of using just one spirit, we're kind of playing
04:05the game.
04:06Instead of whiskey, we're using a little bit of cane, as well as a little bit of mezcal.
04:10Clarin is going to be a cane distillate from Haiti.
04:12Really beautiful, grassy, and salinic.
04:15Now for the star of the show, this is going to be our Spam Infused Mezcal.
04:21At Paradise Lost, the way that we get our Spam Infusion is to cube up the Spam, fry
04:25it up, make sure that you get those little bits that are burnt on the ends and parts
04:28of the char that you're missing from whiskey, and then just let it sit overnight inside
04:32some mezcal, strain it out, and then you have your Spam Mezcal.
04:35Time to get crackin'.
04:38And when you're stirring, you're really trying to focus on dilution, chilling, as well as
04:42keeping the clarity of the actual base that you're using.
04:45In my head, I have very specific counts of how many revolutions I want to stir for in
04:50order to dilute the proper amount down from where the starting proof is.
04:53For a base spirit that's around 40% alcohol, you kind of want to stir it around 60 revolutions.
04:59That gives it just about an ounce of dilution per cocktail.
05:02It gives you a way of elongating the drink, but still being able to taste all the flavors
05:06that are inside of your cocktail.
05:07This is a rocks glass, the traditional serve of an old-fashioned.
05:10You have a really beautiful, big ice cube in there so that it slows down the dilution.
05:14Large ice cubes will have less surface area, so that means that your drink's going to water
05:18down much slower and much less.
05:19Just going to give it a little bit of flair by stamping it with the Paradise Lost logo.
05:25Freshly grated nutmeg imparts a really beautiful aroma to the drink.
05:29Weird is always good.
05:30Let's get weird.
05:31I think we should be more weird.
05:32Personally, I really like the kind of steakhouse old-fashioned with the muddled cherries, but
05:38in order to make an old-fashioned efficient, you have to be a little bit quicker.
05:44We're going to start with like two and a half ounces of Misguided Whiskey.
05:48It's a rye and bourbon blend.
05:50It's delicious.
05:51We free-pour because it's a lot quicker to free-pour, and I'm going to do about two bar
05:55spoons full.
05:56A simple syrup.
05:57You don't want it to be too sweet.
05:58Douse it in some Angostura bitters, and you just give it an orange peel.
06:02Boom, boom, boom.
06:05Old-fashioned.
06:09I like to keep my old-fashions pretty classic.
06:12I mean, it's in the name.
06:13It's one of the original cocktails.
06:14When it comes to making old-fashions, you always want to start off with your bitters.
06:18I like to do three heavy dashes of Angostura.
06:22I like to do three dashes of orange bitters as well.
06:25The orange bitters adds more of a citrus orange flavor without the acid.
06:30So you'll see a lot of people use straight granulated sugar.
06:33I don't like my old-fashions with texture.
06:36I like mine pretty smooth, and I like mine to have body.
06:39So I always used a two-to-one rich syrup made with unrefined sugar, and because I work with
06:45so many different chefs from all different backgrounds of cuisine, so I always use different
06:49sugars made all over the world.
06:51The one that I'm going to be using right here is going to be a Chinese slab sugar.
06:54So we're going to do a scant, or just below a quarter ounce of two-to-one syrup.
07:02For our base spirit today, we're actually going to do a split base, which means we're
07:05going to use two different spirits.
07:07We're going to be using rye whiskey today, which is 95 proof, which just means a little
07:11bit hotter, and have a little bit more of a peppery flavor profile to it rather than
07:15your vanilla, caramelly notes of bourbon.
07:19And one of the original cocktails that you may have seen a lot that is derived from the
07:23old-fashioned is a Sazerac.
07:25So the original old-fashioned Sazerac was made with cognac, and so as kind of a nod
07:30to it, and just because I really love cognac, I'm going to be doing three quarters of an ounce.
07:37And then we're going to add some ice cubes to our Yari mixing glass.
07:42I always try to make sure that there's a bit of ice peeking out above the liquid.
07:47So if I'm stirring it, and it goes below the ice line, that means it will dilute too fast.
07:53So now we're going to pour.
07:56So I'm just expressing the orange peel as it's pouring in there, so it kind of gets
08:01the orange and lemon flavors into the cocktail a little bit more.
08:05You'll see a lot of people kind of wipe the edges.
08:07I don't like that because it just gets your fingers sticky, so I kind of just keep the
08:10orange oils and lemon oils on top, and just stick them right in and enjoy.
08:15At the Plaza Hotel, we do a muddled old-fashioned.
08:18An old-fashioned doesn't have to be muddled for it, but we thought that it would appeal
08:22to a greater audience.
08:23For my old-fashioned, I'm going to start here with a sugar in the raw that I use.
08:27It's got a bigger grain to it, but it really muddles up really nice.
08:31I use one slice of orange and one Luxardo cherry, and then I'm going to give it a little
08:37muddle here and add some Angostura bitters, so three good dashes.
08:42A lot of other bartenders use different spirits in an old-fashioned, but ours is made the
08:47classic way with bourbon.
08:48I give it a nice little stir, and then I'm going to strain it onto a large ice sphere.
08:54We freeze solid blocks of ice, and we have this wonderful ice ball maker at the Plaza.
09:01It makes a beautiful sphere right in front of the guest's eyes, and a round ice cube
09:05has very little surface, so it melts even slower than a block of ice.
09:12So we have a stamp.
09:14It's got our logo on it.
09:15Finish it with an orange twist.
09:18This releases the oils over the drink, and a Luxardo cherry, because it's delicious.
09:26This is the classic garnish for an old-fashioned at the Plaza Hotel.
09:30It's like a piece of old times in a glass.
09:34I think the biggest thing for old-fashions is that they have to be balanced.
09:38The idea behind an old-fashioned is that you're really just taking whiskey and letting it
09:41shine by adding small amounts of flavoring ingredients, but it's not supposed to hide
09:47the main ingredient, which at the end of the day is the whiskey.
09:49We start with a little Angostura bitters.
09:51I think this is where most bartenders get into trouble.
09:54I only use a teaspoon of Demerara syrup, and I think the majority of bartenders out there
09:58make the mistake of putting more simple syrup or some kind of Demerara in there, which makes
10:03the drink cloyingly sweet and way too round.
10:06It almost overpowers the rye and kind of knocks it off balance.
10:09And then we're going to do Rittenhouse rye.
10:12So to make it old-fashioned, I find that two and a half ounces of the rye is really
10:18where we want to be.
10:28So I'm going to stir this up really, really good, get it nice and cold, and then I'm just
10:32going to simply strain this out over a nice large rock.
10:35I'll just express it over the top, get those orange essences on the top of the drink, simply
10:39slide it down the side, and there is your Rittenhouse rye, old-fashioned.
10:43Enjoy.
10:44I work in a pretty high-volume bar, and even in a nightlife setting, old-fashions are definitely
10:50in the top-selling cocktails.
10:52So I'm going to go in with three heavy dashes.
10:55Angostura is one of the most staining ingredients of all time.
10:59Next is simple syrup.
11:00I like to build in the glass for an old-fashioned or a stirred-down cocktail because it's faster.
11:06And it gives the same quality cocktail as if you were to build it in a mixing glass.
11:11And then our final ingredient is going to be Old Forester.
11:15So I'm going to go in with two ounces.
11:17This is 86-proof bourbon, so you don't want to knock someone out just off of one.
11:22You want to be responsible, especially when you're serving alcohol, right?
11:26I do have large cubes here, so we're just going to place that down into our cocktail.
11:32Once again, we're going to go in two spoons and give her maybe 20 to 30 stirs.
11:40An orange peel complements the notes of the bourbon really nicely, whereas a lemon is
11:45going to complement the notes of rye.
11:47Peel side out, and I really do like to wipe it around the side of the glass so that when
11:52you pick up the glass and bring it to your face, you smell the peels.
11:55That's our old-fashioned.
11:57This is my version of the old-fashioned drink.
12:00It's kind of like Japanese-style tea and cacao old-fashioned.
12:04Let's make it.
12:05Cut the ice.
12:06The Los Expro Tobara, 30 ml.
12:15And white cacao liquor, 15, for the sweetness.
12:20And a little Japanese whiskey for body.
12:23So this is a bitter element and main kind of like tea flavor profile.
12:30So this moment, I'm using the Kyoto Fuji Matcha.
12:33The color is totally different.
12:34It's very black and less bitterness.
12:36It's a beautiful balance of the bitterness, yes.
12:38This is like a natural angostura bitters.
12:40Let's try now.
12:42I'm trying to stir.
12:47Also gentle.
12:53This is a hot coconut water, 30 ml.
12:56I don't want to get super cold temperature.
13:00And of course, no bubble.
13:01But for the tea, so it need get the creamy, like, texture of the Whipple Matcha.
13:07It's a two element and combined together.
13:12You get a lot of aroma from beautiful matcha and beautiful foam.
13:20Perfect.
13:29So on the top is a Hana Hojiso, it's a shiso flower.
13:32Each flower has shiso flavor.
13:34After a couple sip, take a bite and drink, enjoy.
13:38The old-fashioned is a really easy drink to learn as a home bartender.
13:43If I did it, anyone can.
13:44I'm going to take just a little bit of sugar.
13:45You want probably about a teaspoon.
13:47This is one of those things that over time you can figure out what you like or what someone
13:51else likes in terms of the sweetness of it.
13:53I'm going to use just a couple dashes of these angostura bitters, which is going to give
13:57the drink a really good complexity.
13:59And then I am going to take just a little bit of water and dump that in just to give
14:05a tiny bit more liquid to mix in with the sugar.
14:08And then you can take a muddling stick or a spoon or whatever it is to get that sugar
14:12nice and melted up.
14:14I like to muddle on the glass just because I like doing fewer dishes.
14:17I'm going to throw in some ice because again, we love a chilled cocktail.
14:22Let's throw in just a little bit of that, which looks good.
14:26Let's just a little bit more there.
14:28You just want to get it to where it is mixed up.
14:31You know what?
14:32That's looking a little light.
14:33I might toss in just a little bit more of this.
14:36I pour until the ancestors tell me to stop on this one.
14:39And the Luxardo cherries are worth the investment.
14:42They are a little bit more expensive, but they last a really super long time in the
14:46syrup.
14:47I'm going to take a little bit of this orange and rim it around the glass just to give it
14:50a little bit of a flavor.
14:52And then I'm just going to rub this to activate the orange flavor, drop it in, give it one
14:56final little stir, and there you go, my home Old Fashioned.
15:03Some people order Old Fashioneds at a neighborhood bar.
15:06I like to be fully transparent.
15:07In the neighborhood bar, we don't have turbinado sugar.
15:09So I say, I can make you an Old Fashioned, but I'm going to use simple syrup.
15:12Is that all right?
15:13And most people say it's fine.
15:14But then occasionally you get the person's like, oh, I'll just take a shot of Fireball
15:17on a Bud Light instead, as if that's like a normal juxtaposition.
15:22We don't have space for mixing glasses, and it's such an infrequently ordered cocktail
15:27that those mixing glasses that are super delicate, they break and it's not worth it.
15:32For me, I just build it right in the glass.
15:33I'm going to start with a couple dashes of Angostura Bitters.
15:37One of the benefits of using simple syrup is that you don't need to put a splash of
15:40club soda or water in it.
15:41The only reason people don't love that is because it's a little sweeter, but it's fine.
15:46For building in the glass, I just put everything in first and then I add the ice.
15:50Probably like three cubes of ice.
15:51This is a blend of an Irish whiskey and a rye.
15:55It is 80 proof, but it's so smooth and it finishes with a little bit of that pepper,
15:59but it's not overpowering.
16:00When people use high proof alcohol in high volume bars, you're just kind of asking for
16:05trouble.
16:06Also, you don't make money if you get them too drunk too fast.
16:09And then I just do a little twist of orange, just so that you get the aroma of it.
16:13Because especially with the simple, it's sweet enough that I don't muddle through.
16:17I don't waste my time with all of that.
16:18And the way that this is done, that last sip is going to be your sweet sip, which is going
16:21to make you want to order that next drink.
16:23So this is my old fashion.
16:25All right.
16:27Cheers.
16:29I give you one of my favorite cocktails.
16:31I mean, it's literally the best whiskey.
16:33This is amazing.
16:34Um, yeah.
16:35So I probably put in a little bit too much bourbon.