Steve's Modern Old Fashioned

Name: Steve's Modern Old Fashioned
Ingredients: ¼–½ oz Demerara syrup; 2 dashes Angostura bitters; 3–4 dashes Orange bitters; Muddled maraschino cherry and/or orange slice — Steve prefers using both; 1 barspoon Cherry juice — from maraschino cherries; 2 oz Bourbon (or Rye); Orange peel (if wanted)

old-fashioned · bourbon · rye

Next to the muddled mid-century one, this keeps the fruit and loses the sugar cube that never dissolved anyway. The barspoon of cherry juice sweetens more than you'd expect, so start the syrup at a quarter ounce. Tequila works here too, which is how I learned I was out of bourbon.

Steve's Modern Old Fashioned in a rocks glass over a large cube, with an orange peel

Ingredients

Where there's a range: the low end is lighter, the high end is fuller.

¼–½ ozDemerara syrup
2 dashesAngostura bitters
3–4 dashesOrange bitters
—Muddled maraschino cherry and/or orange slice — Steve prefers using both
1 barspoonCherry juice — from maraschino cherries
2 ozBourbon (or Rye)

Garnish

Orange peel (if wanted)

Method

Muddle the fruit in the bottom of a highball glass. Add a big ice cube. Add the remaining ingredients over the ice and stir. Garnish with orange peel if wanted, and serve.

Steve’s notes

Can use Tequila instead of whiskey for a Tequila Old Fashioned.