Classic Old Fashioned

Ingredients

• 8 oz (240ml) bourbon whiskey (such as Woodford Reserve or Maker's Mark), about 2 oz per serving
• 4 teaspoons granulated white sugar or 4 sugar cubes
• 16 dashes Angostura aromatic bitters (4 dashes per serving)
• 4 teaspoons water
• 4 large ice cubes or spheres (one per glass)
• 4 strips orange peel (for garnish)
• 4 Luxardo maraschino cherries (for garnish)
• Optional non-alcoholic variation: 8 oz non-alcoholic whiskey alternative such as Ritual Zero Proof

Instructions

1. Place one sugar cube or 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar into each of four heavy-bottomed rocks glasses (also called lowball or Old Fashioned glasses).
2. Add 4 dashes of Angostura bitters directly onto the sugar in each glass.
3. Add 1 teaspoon of water to each glass and use a cocktail muddler or the back of a spoon to muddle and dissolve the sugar completely with the bitters and water until a smooth paste forms.
4. Add one large ice cube or ice sphere to each glass directly on top of the dissolved sugar mixture.
5. Pour 2 oz (60ml) of bourbon whiskey over the ice in each glass.
6. Stir each drink gently with a bar spoon for about 20 to 30 seconds to combine and slightly chill the cocktail without over-diluting it.
7. Take one strip of orange peel per glass and hold it over the drink with the skin side facing down, then sharply pinch it to express the citrus oils over the surface of the cocktail.
8. Run the expressed orange peel around the rim of the glass and then drop it into the drink or drape it over the ice as garnish.
9. Place one Luxardo maraschino cherry into each glass alongside the orange peel and serve immediately.
10. For a non-alcoholic variation, substitute the bourbon with 2 oz of a non-alcoholic whiskey alternative such as Ritual Zero Proof Whiskey Alternative, following the same steps, and serve over a large ice cube with the same bitters, sugar, orange peel, and cherry garnish.