4. The Old Fashioned: Bonus Round!

Well it’s noon on Sunday, which is the same as 5 o’clock any other day, so it’s time for the latest installment of:

Online School of Cocktailory

For drinking #alonetogether

Section 101: The Old Fashioned

Now that we know an Old Fashioned recipe follows the 2oz. core booze, 1-3 teaspoons of a balancing sweetener, and 2 dashes of seasoning bitters pattern, you can now swap and replace anything you want! Technically there’s lots of rules about glassware and expressing garnishes and different sizes and methodology of ice cubes and stirring vs. shaking drinks, but what are we bartenders? No. We’re drinking at home on the cheap. You do you boo.

Here are some extended family relatives of the Old Fashioned to get you started:

-The Classic Champagne Cocktail-

Dash your Angostura bitters over a sugar cube until pretty saturated and drop into a champagne flute. Slowly fill the glass with dry champagne. Express a lemon twist over the drink and drop into the glass. So bubble. So yum.

-Mint Julep-

Wow there’s a lot of rules to make these correctly, and I’m no Paula Deen, so here’s my Yankee burbs mom translation:

Step one: wear a giant hat. Next, rub the inside of a metal cup with like 10+ mint leaves (?). Set mint aside. Pour 2oz. bourbon plus 1/4 oz. simple syrup into your cup and half fill with crushed ice. Stir for 10 sec. but don’t touch the sides of the cup (again, insert ‘?’) Add more ice and keep stirring until sides of cup are frosted, so only hold it by the rim I guess… Keep filling with ice to ludicrous mode until overflowing into snowcone shape. Form your mint into a bouquet and embed into top of snowcone. Serve with straw. And you better have made a fruit juice version for the kids too, cuz they’re about to steal your snowcone.

-Hot Toddy-

Squeeze 2 lemon wedges into a mug, and set aside. Add 1.5oz of bourbon, 1-2 teaspoons of honey, and 1 dash Angostura bitters. Pour in 4 oz. of not-quite boiling water, and grate a little nutmeg over the top. Garnish with lemon wedges on a stir pick. Enjoy by the fire reading Tolstoy in your comfy pants.