An Adaptable Old Fashioned Cocktail Food

AN ADAPTABLE COSMOPOLITAN COCKTAIL

Steps:

• Set coupe glass or other cocktail glass in the freezer to chill for 10 minutes.
• In a shaker, combine the vodka, cranberry juice cocktail, orange liqueur and lime juice. Add ice and shake until very well chilled.
• Strain cocktail into chilled glass. Garnish with lime wedge or lemon twist, if desired.

OLD FASHIONED COCKTAIL

Steps:

• Muddle sugar cube, water, and bitters in an old fashioned glass for 1 minute. Pour in whiskey and stir for an additional minute. Squeeze the lemon twist over the glass and drop it in. Add ice cubes. Garnish with a slice of orange and a maraschino cherry; serve with a swizzle stick.

AN ADAPTABLE OLD-FASHIONED COCKTAIL

Steps:

• Prepare the simple syrup: In a small saucepan, combine sugar with 1/4 cup water. Heat over low, stirring frequently, just until sugar dissolves, about 3 minutes. Refrigerate if not using immediately. (Remaining syrup will keep in the fridge for up to 1 month.)
• Prepare the cocktail: In an ice-filled mixing glass, combine the whiskey, prepared syrup and bitters. Stir until well chilled, about 15 seconds. (If using a sugar cube, muddle it with a dash of water and the 3 to 4 dashes bitters before stirring it with the whiskey over ice.) Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into an ice-filled rocks glass and finish with the citrus twist.

NEW OLD FASHIONED COCKTAILS

Steps:

• Add half the whiskey and 2 ice cubes to a rocks glass. Stir. Add the sugar syrup, Angostura bitters and 2 more ice cubes. Stir. Add the rest of the whiskey and 2 more ice cubes. Stir.
• Add 2 more ice cubes, then pinch the citrus zest so the aromatic oils spray over the drink, then drop it into the glass. 3 TWISTSRum old fashionedThe silky-sweet rums of Latin America are particularly good for this - try the amber-coloured Ron Zacapa from Venezuela. Instead of Angostura bitters, try using Angostura orange bitters, and garnish with an orange twist. Tequila old fashionedAnejo tequila has lots of vanilla and caramel notes that work very nicely in an old fashioned. For the sweetener, use agave syrup instead of sugar syrup, although agave syrup tends to be sweeter, so you may need slightly less. Garnish with a lemon twist. Smoky old fashionedTo add a hint of smoke, infuse your sugar syrup. Simply make a 2:1 sugar syrup and while it's still warm, put a Lapsang Souchong teabag in the syrup and leave to infuse for half-an-hour. Then make your old fashioned as normal.

COLD-FASHIONED

Steps:

• Fill a mixing glass halfway with ice. Add whiskey, coffee liqueur and bitters; stir until chilled, about 15 seconds.
• Strain into a rocks glass filled with one large ice cube. Garnish with an orange peel.