Happy Thursday, everyone! This week’s Throwback Thursday Classic Cocktail is just about as classic as you can get: The Old Fashioned.

But don’t let the name fool you! We here at The Woman At The Bar have spent countless hours refining the best of the best version of this delectable little drink, and because we love you so much, we have decided to share our secret recipe with you. Are you ready? No, really, you should probably sit down first. Okay, ready now? Great. Here we go…

Traditionally, an Old Fashioned is incredibly straight forward: bourbon, sugar, bitters, a splash of water, and a cherry & orange slice for garnish. But honestly, did you think that we were just going to rest on our laurels and go with that? Who do you think we are? Come on…

We here at The Woman At The Bar, specifically KellyAtTheBar and GaryAtTheBar, have field tested so many versions of this drink to figure out the best one that the numbers would make your head spin. But eventually we landed on the Holy Grail of Old Fashioned recipes. We created this by breaking down the elements of the drink and rebuilding it into what we have dubbed The (New) Old Fashioned.

To create this brilliant, Should Have Awards It Is So Fabulous, drink you will need:

• 1 3/4 oz bourbon
• 1/4 oz Luxardo cherry liqueur
• 1 scruple spoon (1/8th tspn) Zwack
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 2 dashes orange bitters
• splash of fresh squeezed orange juice
• Orange wedge & maraschino cherry for garnish

Gather all of your ingredients plus your measuring spoons, jiggers, bar spoon, mixing glass, and strainer.

First, squeeze your orange juice. You only need a tiny amount for each drink, so make sure you conserve your oranges!

Next, put your 2 dashes of bitters directly into the bottom of the glass. Remember to hold the bitters bottle vertically directly over the glass and shake vigorously once per dash.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, pour your 1 3/4 oz bourbon into the glass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next step is the honey. Now, we firmly believe that it is the use of honey instead of sugar that really pushes this drink over the top, so pay close attention to this step!

Measure out your 1 teaspoon into the measuring spoon, and then stir the honey vigorously into the liquid already in the mixing glass. You will need about 30 seconds to really get all of the honey off of the measuring spoon and integrated into the liquid. Note that you will still see a fine film of honey on the measuring spoon, but make sure that you get as much into the glass as you can.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now add in your 1/4 oz Luxardo and 1 scruple spoon of Zwack.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last but not least, pour a splash of the OJ into the mixing glass. This really does add some depth to the drink, so don’t skip it!

Now fill the mixing glass 3/4 full of ice, and smoothly but quickly stir to combine for approximately 30 seconds, or until the ice has melted down to the liquid line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now pour some ice into your serving glass, and strain this heavenly nectar in there!

And, as the (literal) cherry on top, garnish with your orange wedge and maraschino cherry!

 

And there you have it! A drink so fancy, so classic, and so delicious it will surely impress even the most haughty of your hipster friends who think they know what they are doing. So go ahead, show ’em what you got!

Until tomorrow!