- John from Preppy Kitchen here.
Today we're making my very most-favorite cocktail
in the world, an old fashioned.
It's so simple.
And, if you're wondering why it's called an old fashioned,
here's the scoop.
This was the first type of cocktail developed,
alcohol, some bitters, a little sugar,
maybe a little water on the side,
but it fell out of favor for fancier cocktails in the 1860s.
It came back into favor, and they were like,
"I like that drink, the old-fashioned kind,"
hence the name old fashioned.
Okay, with that history lesson, let's get started.
First off, we're gonna be getting some orange peel,
and this is very important.
So, just use a sharp knife
and we'll have maybe a couple of inches of it,
enough so you can squeeze it like this.
This is gonna be the important part.
I'm gonna cut a few slices because I might have a dud,
and nobody wants that.
All right, that's for later.
Now fold a few ingredients.
One sugar cube, this is important.
If you don't have a sugar cube, it's okay,
don't worry about it,
you can use like a teaspoon or so of regular sugar.
But the proper way is with a sugar cube.
Now we're gonna soak it in bitters.
Now, traditionally you could use like angostura,
aromatic bitters.
You can add some orange bitters in there,
there's a lot of new bitters out there
so, use whatever you love.
I'm gonna use a combination.
Right, soak.
Soak that sugar cube in there,
and you're gonna muddle it now.
So, take your muddler,
crush the sugar,
right, now it's time for the ice.
Here we go, one big lump.
What do you do now?
Add the bourbon.
This is the fun part.
So, you can measure out if you want.
It's like 2 1/4 ounces, about 1/4 of a cup,
and change.
Don't tell anybody our secret.
All right, stir it.
(cocktail lounge music)
And now for the fun part.
You're gonna flame your orange peel.
This is optional.
If you don't want to do it, you can skip it.
So, first off, grab the orange peel
between your middle finger and thumb.
You're gonna warm it up.
The idea is you're getting all the oils released in there.
So, you've gotta warm them up first,
and now you're gonna hold the peel at a 45-degree angle
over the glass,
and there you go, flame that peel.
Drop it in.
You can wrap it around the edge too.
Here, I'll do that again.
So, we go,
we go.
(discordant trumpet sounds)
That wasn't as good as the first one,
but you saw the first one.
Now you must wipe the peel around the rim a little bit,
drop it in, we' already did it once,
but now it's time to drink.
This is a classic old fashioned.
However, for my own personal twist,
I have to add one cherry
and it's not a maraschino cherry,
it's a Luxardo cherry.
Look at this.
Do you see that syrup?
It's adding just a little bit of extra sweetness,
and the cherry is like the desert at the end of the drink.
It doesn't make the drink sickly sweet or anything though.
Look at that.
Yes.
Give it one final stir,
just to move that cherry stuff around,
and you're done.
I hope you enjoy. I know that I will.
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.
This is so good!
It is my favorite cocktail.
However, this is how you should make the cocktail,
cherry, optional.
I know it's sort of controversial.
You can let me know in the comments
if you think a cherry is totally just for Manhattans.
I like it in this drink.
If you like my videos,
I hope you like my like button and subscribe.
And, if you like this one,
check out my Manhattan cocktail.
So similar, but slightly different.
All right, cheers for now, see you soon.