Perfect vintage cocktail recipe

Here’s how to make my favorite vintage cocktailperfect for a comfortable night. I’m going to share my recipes and have some fun and relaxing twists to make it your own!

When we moved to Seattle, Adam and I fell in love with old-fashioned cocktails. This is a cocktail we want to order or order at home for a while. We really fell for them! So naturally, we chose some tips we like and hope to share with you. The old-fashioned production is very simple and requires only three ingredients to stir with ice.

From our photos you can see that we have huge hockey pucks. These are not 100% needed, but we’ve included a quick tutorial below if you’re interested. Traditionally, the old fashioned one is a whiskey cocktail (although I share the alternative below). If you love whiskey, you should also check out our Manhattan cocktails!

Key Ingredients

• Whiskey or Bourbon: Classic vintage appeals to whiskey or bourbon, so if you want to stick to the classic variation, use a reliable mid-range bottle like four roses or Bulliet. For something more special, our friends are roaring about Woodford Reserve Double Rubber. If you want something different, try using older rum! The old fashioned rum of an elderly man is Adam’s regular order for years and after I had a lot of drinks myself, I got why. I also saw these made with brandy, surprisingly gin.
• sugar: You need a little sugar to balance the alcohol. I use simple syrup because it dissolves well. Simple simple syrup is great, but if you are making it, try Brown Sugar Simple Syrup, which works with caramel tones of whiskey, bourbon, or dark rum.
• bitter: We love the classic Angostura bitters, but if you have a favorite bitters bottle on hand, give it a try!
• Extras: I like to add a slice of orange peel to the aroma and some Maraschino cherries. If you watch our videos, you’ll see a tip we picked up from one of our favorite cocktail bars. We hold the flame next to a piece of orange peel, which heats in orange oil. It smells incredible!

Make transparent ice cubes

In our photos, we used homemade transparent hockey. Adam has become a full-blown ice nerd since we made old-fashioned cocktails at home. The theory is that larger, clearer ice cubes in cocktails melt slowly, so they won’t water your drink. They look cool too!

There are fancy gadgets (especially since the initial sharing of this tutorial), but we found an excellent DIY method to be transparent with hockey. Our tap water is removed with this technology, but depending on where you live, you may need to use filtered or boiled water. We guide you through the method in the video, but this is what you should expect when making them:

1. Build a small container in an insulating cup. We used a small rubber maid container and a cheap cup to find online. Fill the cup with water, making sure to cover the small container.
2. Fill the sphere mold with water and insert the hole with your fingers. Turn the mold upside down and carefully dip it into the cup.
3. Lower the water level in the cup until even the top of the small container. Then, freeze it!

Adam holds our DIY (almost) transparent puck to the left of the photo above. The one on the right is a regular freezing mold – covered with dark clouds! As shown below, it melts slowly than normal ice.