Cocktail Families - Old Fashioned
Every cocktail is basically just another cocktail, with a few tweaks. The world of cocktails and mixology starts to make so much more sense when you start thinking of cocktails as being in 'families' rather than just 'so many different individual cocktails.'
My philosophy has been influenced by a number of different people, bars and bar programs, and with this philosophy I view all cocktails being able to fit within the 6 cocktail families; Old Fashioned, Martini, Daiquiri/Sour, Sidecar, Highball and Flip.
An Old Fashioned is probably the first cocktail you should learn. It is pretty much always going to be a spirit forward style of cocktail and is great for showcasing a quality base. A classic Old Fashioned is:
60ml Bourbon
2 dashes of Angostura bitters
1 sugar cube
The sugar is muddled and broken up in the bottom of the glass with the bitters. Then the bourbon is added, then the drink is stirred with ice. Usually garnished with a lemon or orange twist.
An Old Fashioned will usually be served in an "Old Fashioned glass" or a "rocks glass" and will usually be served on ice. This gives the drink a chance to sit and dilute more over time while still remaining at an appropriate drinking temperature. Sometimes this allows the cocktail to evolve in flavour or sometimes just ends up being easier to drink with a little more water involved.
Drinks from the Old Fashioned family should be stirred, this maintains a lovely texture to the drink, and also controls the dilution, keeping it quite low. These drinks should be silky, spirituous and sensational! However, as for all rules in the world of cocktails and mixology, there are some exceptions. The main thing to remember is if it works it works.
When breaking down an Old Fashioned into its basic template form, it consists of spirit, bitters and sweetener. This doesn't have to necessarily mean that it follows the same specs as the above mentioned recipe, nor does each element have to come in the same way as the recipe.
When looking at each component of what makes an Old Fashioned, each word can mean a number of things. 'Spirit' is pretty self explanatory, this is going to be a spirit like whisk(e)y, rum, gin, tequila, brandy or any other type of spirit or liquor that acts as your base.
'Bitters' doesn't mean only Angostura bitters, bitters can be some of your other variants like Peychaud's bitters, orange bitters, chocolate bitters, walnut bitters etc. Further still, bitters doesn't even have to mean the type of bitters that you use in dashes, it just refers to any ingredient that has a bitter element and flavour to it, think amaro, aperitif, digestif or any other bitter liquor.
'Sweetener' can be more than just a sugar cube, it can obviously mean a type of syrup like a simple syrup, maple syrup or agave syrup. It also can mean a liqueur of some kind like Drambuie, amaretto or Benedictine. Also don't forget your sweeter, fortified wines that can also work in this category like Port, Madeira and Pedro Ximenez.
Now that you have that understanding of the components of an Old Fashioned under your belt, things should start to make a lot more sense. So as much as a drink with
60ml Bourbon
2 dashes of Angostura bitters
1 sugar cube
is an Old Fashioned, so is a drink with
60ml Rye Whiskey
7.5ml Amaro Averna
7.5ml Amaro Montenegro
In the first recipe, the bourbon is your spirit component, the Angostura bitters is your bitters component and the sugar cube is your sweetener component. In the second recipe the rye is your spirit component, the Averna and Montenegro both provide the bitters component and they also provide the sweetener component as well.
The specs and measurements to this template of cocktails can vary greatly, different ingredients will have differing levels of bitterness and sweetness, so sometimes adjustments will be made depending on the balance you are looking for. Sometimes you can even combine all ingredients in equal parts, which takes me to my next example.
Not everyone will agree, but I believe an argument can be made that a Negroni is just a Gin Old Fashioned.
In the case of a Negroni, the gin is obviously the spirit, that much we can agree on. The Campari is the bitters component and adds just a touch of sweetness too as Campari does have sugar. Then the sweet vermouth also fills in as part of the 'sweetener' element. So to me, this kind of constitutes an Old Fashioned. There is a lot more of an argument that it would belong to the Martini family, which is very fair, but for me, understanding a Negroni as part of the Old Fashioned family has allowed me to come up with some fantastic cocktails.
Viewing and understanding cocktails as families and templates should allow you to make amazing cocktails. A lot of the time its just plug and play certain ingredients into the templates, make a few tweaks to the specs and you should be off and running. I think that cocktails in the Old Fashioned family are great for highlighting an amazing spirit and allowing it to be the star of the show, much like our SRC-2632 Rum. This rum, with a bit of Averna and an even littler bit of Frangelico makes a superb cocktail that compliments and exemplifies the characteristics of the rum all while being way too easy to drink. For something that is a bit closer to your 'usual' Old Fashioned style cocktail, the rum is featured in a riff on a cocktail named 'The Godfather'. The rum is the base and the star of the show, with the addition of amaretto and Noir as your sweetener and then a few drops of walnut bitters for the seasoning as the bitters aspect.
60ml Solander Rum Co Distillers Rum
7.5ml Amaretto
7.5ml Noir
5 drops walnut bitters
Stirred and served on a rock in a chilled Old Fashioned glass
45ml Solander Rum Co Distillers Rum
15ml Averna
5ml (1 tsp) Frangelico
Stirred and served up in a chilled coupe glass
By Lucas Bucton, March 2025