angostura bitters

The old-fashioned is one of the oldest mixed drinks in the cocktail canon. (Original name: whiskey cocktail, which became old-fashioned whiskey cocktail, and then just old-fashioned.) It is a stirred drink, usually built in the glass in which it is served. Both rye and bourbon are suitable base spirits. For the sweetener, purists muddle up a sugar cube with water and a couple dashes of bitters, but simple syrup works as well. Twists can be orange, lemon or both (known as “rabbit ears”). A fruited version of the drink came into vogue after Prohibition and involves the muddling of a cherry and orange slice along with the sugar. That version remains widespread, but we advocate the more elemental rendition that took hold in the late 1800s, one that allows the flavors of the whiskey to shine.

Old-Fashioned

sugar

Angostura bitter

rye or bourbon

Orange twist

Muddle the sugar cube and bitters with one bar spoon of water at the bottom of a chilled rocks glass. (If using simple syrup, combine bitters and one bar spoon of syrup.) Add rye or bourbon. Stir.

Add one large ice cube, or three or four smaller cubes. Stir until chilled and properly diluted, about 30 seconds. Slip orange twist on the side of the cube.

The Old-Fashioned fits the original definition of the cocktail — spirits, sugar, bitters, and water — and indeed is one of the oldest mixed drinks in the cocktail canon.

There are some who adhere to dry-martini dogma when making a manhattan, thinking the drink improves with less vermouth. But the classic, best and most flavorful ratio for this drink remains two to one. Whether you use bourbon or rye is entirely a matter of taste. Bourbon will get you a slightly sweeter, more mellow drink; rye a drier, spicier one. Both versions can be excellent. Use homemade cocktail cherries if possible, or a quality brand like Luxardo. Eschew the common neon-red orbs found in supermarkets. They are cherries the way that stuff movies theaters put on popcorn is butter.

Manhattan

sweet vermouth

Angostura bitters

Cocktail cherry,

Stir ingredients over ice until chilled, about 30 seconds. Strain into chilled coupe glass. Garnish with cherry.

There are some who adhere to dry-martini dogma when making a Manhattan, thinking the drink improves with less vermouth. But the classic, best and most flavorful ratio for this drink remains two to one.

These Krangostura Bitters, a loose play on the quintessential Angostura brand, are brimming with clove and cardamom and supported by a backbone of gentian root and cinchona bark. Try them in your next Manhattan or Old Fashioned and branch out from there.

Krangostura Bitters Recipe

For the Bitters

cloves

whole black cardamom

blades of mace

allspice berries

cinchona bark (available

gentian root

Indonesian cinnamon (about 16 2" long sticks,

black raisins

blackstrap molasses

Meyer Lemons and 1 Cara Cara orange,

For Dilution Liquid

water

For Muscovado Simple Syrup

muscovado sugar

Loosely mash cloves, cardamom, mace, and allspice in a mortar and pestle to release oils—just a few good bashes, not enough to pulverize. Add to 750 milliliter airtight nonreactive container.

Add cinchona bark, gentian root, cinnamon, raisins, and molasses and cover with enough alcohol that solids are submerged and there's an additional half-inch of alcohol in the container. Store in a dark place and shake daily.

After two weeks of daily shaking, peel Meyer lemons and Cara Cara orange. Open container and add peels, tearing up peels by hand to release essential oils. Reseal container and store in a dark place, continuing to shake daily.

At the end of the fourth week, strain the solid ingredients through cheesecloth and set the strained alcohol aside. 

To make dilution liquid, place solid ingredients in a soup pot and cover with 4 cups water. Bring this mixture to a boil for about 15 minutes to infuse the flavor of the ingredients into the water. Let cool and strain through cheesecloth. Measure the strained alcohol and mix with an equal amount of strained dilution liquid. 

To make muscovado simple syrup, heat 1 cup water with 1 cup of muscovado sugar and stir until sugar dissolves. Let cool. Add 3/4 cup simple syrup to the diluted bitters mixture. 

At this point, you should check for clarity by pour some bitters into a clear glass container and holding it up to the light. If you are satisfied with the clarity, consider yourself done. If you'd like to remove any present sediment, either pass bitters through a coffee filter or multiple layers (5+) of cheesecloth and repeat until you've reached desired clarity.

Smoked Horchata from Joaquin Simo combines smokey mezcal with a traditional sweet drink. Get the recipe!

Smoked Horchata

Horchata

unsweetened coconut flakes

almond flour

cinnamon

brown sugar

rice milk

almond milk

coconut water

Cinnamon Bark Syrup

cinnamon sticks, smashed

reposado tequila

Del Maguey Crema de Mezcal

cinnamon stick,

Death & Co.'s Smoked Horchata Recipe | Tasting Table

The Captain’s Blood is similar to a daiquiri, except that it’s made with dark rum instead of white and a small but essential measure of falernum (a syrup flavored with spices, often nuts, sometimes lime, sometimes alcoholic and sometimes not, often used in Caribbean rum drinks). I prefer my Captain’s Blood on the tart side, but you can adjust the amount of sugar to make it as sweet or as sharp as you like.

Captain’s Blood

Jamaican dark rum

falernum

lime juice

Lime wheel

Shake liquid ingredients and sugar with ice, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass or coupe. Garnish with lime wheel or wedge.

The classic old fashioned cocktail made with my favorite, Jameson Irish whiskey.

Jameson Old Fashioned

oz Jameson Irish whiskey

sugar cube

club soda

orange peel

In a rocks glass, muddle together the sugar...

In a rocks glass, muddle together the sugar cube, angostura bitters and splash of club soda until sugar is dissolved.

Add desired ice (see note) and fill with...

Add desired ice (see note) and fill with whiskey.

Garnish with orange peel.

Mix gin with cherry brandy, Benedictine, Angostura bitters, pineapple and lime juice to make this classic cocktail. Garnish with pineapple and a cherry

Singapore sling

dry gin

cherry brandy

Benedictine

pineapple juice

pineapple (optional)

cocktail cherry

Pour the gin, cherry brandy and Benedictine into a mixing glass or a jug. Add the ice and Angostura bitters. Stir well until the outside of the glass feels cold.

Pour the mix into a tall glass, then add the pineapple juice and lime juice and stir gently. Top up with sparkling water and garnish.

A good old fashioned recipe with a modern twist. All you need to stay cool this summer.

Maple and rosemary Old Fashioned

(125 milliliters) maple syrup

rosemary

amarena cherries

Ice cubes, to serve

(125 milliliters) bourbon whisky

https://resources.newscdn.com.au/cs/video/vjs/stable/build/index.html?id=5348771529001-5977447755001&=domain=del

5348771529001-5977447755001

Here’s a cocktail that’s both a tribute to my mother (who loved whiskey sours laced with amaretto) and to my favorite flavors of the Christmas season: clementines, cinnamon and cloves. Juice the clementines a day in advance to save yourself some trouble on the holiday.

Christmas Day Clementine Sour

bourbon, preferably Elijah Craig 12-year-old

Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao

spiced brown sugar syrup

egg white (optional)

Luxardo Amaretto (enough to rinse inside of coupe glass)

In a shaker filled with ice, combine the bourbon, curaçao, brown sugar syrup and clementine juice (and egg white, if using). Shake vigorously for 30 seconds.

In a chilled coupe glass, swirl enough amaretto to coat the inside. Strain shaken drink into coupe. Top with the bitters. Garnish with the ribbon of clementine peel.

This classic tropical drink was invented by Don Beach. It&#039;s made with rum, citrus juices, fassionola syrup and falernum with a dashes of Angostura bitters and absinthe.

Cobra's Fang (Classic Tiki Cocktail)

oz aged rum ((see Notes))

¾ oz fassionola syrup ((recipe link in Notes))

½ oz falernum ((I use John D. Taylor's Velvet Falernum))

½ oz freshly squeezed orange juice

½ oz freshly squeezed lime juice

absinthe

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and fill it 3/4 with ice.

Shake until chilled, then strain into a tall glass filled with ice. Garnish with mint, pineapple leaves, and edible flowers (if desired).

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well. Strain into a highball glass with ice cubes. Garnish with a pineapple wedge and a maraschino cherry before serving.

Singapore Sling

Cointreau

Lime

Pineapple

Grenadine

Angostura Bitters

Cherry Liqueur

DOM Benedictine

Shake

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well.

Strain

Strain into a highball glass with ice cubes.

Garnish

Garnish with a pineapple wedge and a maraschino cherry before serving.

Here's the oldest cocktail there is, the Old Fashioned! The classic method uses a sugar cube, bitters, and bourbon whiskey for a truly timeless drink. For more bitters drinks, scroll up! 

Old Fashioned &amp; Top Drinks with Bitters

sugar cube (1 teaspoon sugar)

(4 tablespoons) bourbon whiskey

Orange peel

Cocktail cherry for garnish (optional)

Place the sugar cube in a lowball glass and add the bitters. Add the water and mash and swirl it with a muddler or wooden spoon until the sugar is mostly dissolved.

Add the bourbon whiskey and swirl to combine. Add a large ice cube.

Use a knife to remove a 1&#8243; wide strip of the orange peel. Squeeze the orange peel into the drink to release the oils. Gently run the peel around the edge of the glass, then place it in the glass. If desired, garnish with a cocktail cherry for additional sweetness.

One of our most popular drinks, the Maple Bourbon Sour, combines our Bourbon Whiskey with Vermont Maple Syrup, lemon juice and Angostura bitters.

Maple Bourbon Sour

oz Bourbon Whiskey

oz VT Maple Syrup

Lemon

Combine ingredients in a shaker over ice.

Strain contents into a Double Old Fashioned glass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4nniUOOnKk

How to make a Maple Bourbon Sour with our MRD Bourbon Whiskey

A fall-inspired twist on a classic cocktail, this Maple Old Fashioned will warm you up from the inside out on those chilly autumn nights!

Maple Old Fashioned

oz Bourbon

tsp Maple Syrup

Water

Orange Peel

Using a vegetable peeler, peel off a 3 to 4 inch chunk of orange peel. Rub the peel along the rim of a cocktail glass, and set aside.

Add the bourbon, bitters, maple syrup, and water into the glass. Gently stir until the maple syrup is dissolved.

Add ice cubes.

Twist the orange peel over the glass to release the oils, then add the orange peel to the cocktail.

Start with a spiced, citrus base, made with lemon peels muddled with brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, star anise, black peppercorns and tea leaves. Then, make a holiday drink your way. If you choose to spike it, reach for a favorite spirited bottle. Gin leans your drink refreshingly botanical, while whiskey feels a bit boozier and plays nicely off the base’s warming spices. If you want to make a nonalcoholic drink, simply add soda water, tonic and, if you like, a few dashes of Angostura bitters. (Note that, while the bitters lend a nice layer of flavor and depth, they do contain a small amount of alcohol, so if you’re abstaining just leave them out.) The point here is to make a drink you want to drink — and for your friend, partner, cousin or parent to make the drink they want to drink.

Spiced Holiday Punch for Everyone

lemons

flaky sea salt

star anise

black peppercorns

loose-leaf oolong, black or green tea leaves

orange juice

Spiced Holiday Punch Base

spirit,

club soda,

dry sparkling wine, chilled

Angostura bitters (optional; see Tip)

soda water,

dry tonic water, chilled

This was delicious. I only mixed it with Cremant, and it was really tasty and a crowd pleaser!

I must echo previous commenters: lots of citrus flavor here, but not much spice. I suspect that the flavor of the base would be improved (or brought closer to what many of us were expecting) by using ground spices in place of the whole spices called for in the recipe. Ground spices can be toasted in the same manner as whole spices, and the higher surface-area-to-volume ratio might help their flavor to diffuse more readily than the whole spices. I’ll try this eventually. In the meantime, it’s a tasty enough drink as is.

@Annie thanks for the protip! tripled the recipe. worked like a charm!

Alot of work for a small yield.  Taste was good but not the amazing elixir I was expecting.

Made it with mezcal, to drink alongside some homemade tamales, relleno, and mole. Truly excellent.

Wow. It is salty. I used flakes, not table salt. Despite all the effort that went into this, the flavor of the base wasn't as intense as I thought it would be... but it was salty.

It was very lemony. Though true to the recipe it went with any alcohol mixer, not sure I would make again

Refreshing! This is a keeper. Made with oolong. Very well balanced, def needs the bitters tho.

Solid cocktail base. Tried it with both bourbon and gin, following the recipe exactly.  I preferred the punch-like gin, but the other Thanksgiving drinkers liked the bourbon more.  But, a fair amount of time and effort to get a result that could be had by purchasing a quality mixer. Won’t bother to make in the future.

Delicious! It's reminiscent of a spiked lemon iced tea, so what's not to like? It was a hit!

This was delicious— we all drank it with bourbon, and it was terrific. Very easy to make, and enjoyed by all!

This was delicious. I love the process---muddling the peels with the sugar and aromatics was a delight for the senses. I would stir it every few hours or so, after muddling to help mix flavors. It was great for both drinkers and abstainers alike, especially for those with strong preferences (e.g., bourbon vs gin). We topped with sparkly juice from France (pear/apple or raspberry/apple) so I think you don't need to be too fussy about what carbonation you add. My one suggestion: Double it!

Made this drink for our Christmas dinner and loved it! Great aromatics! We streamlined the drinks a bit by adding half club soda, half tonic water for both variations and some vodka for the alcoholic ones. Worked out great! I also added more hot water, citrus juices and sugar to the muddled aromatics to make more base and let it all sit for a few hours before straining, which was good because when you go through so many steps you might aswell make enough base to last for a while.

Added a bit of ginger ale, highly recommend

And for a lazier version, use your kitchen aide mixer (a tip I saw on another  NYT recipe) to do your citrus peel, spice, and sugar muddling.

An absolute crowd pleaser at my Hanukkah party— great with cachaça and becherovka as well! I wrote the recipe out on a card and let guests make their own, and folks had a blast mixing their own cocktails and playing around with the measurements. A great conversation starter and SO delicious!

I adore this idea. I'll also be making it with no-caffeine rooibos tea to be sure that the results are evening-appropriate! Thanks for the inspiration!

In the directions it references 3/4 c lemon juice - it took 5 lemons for me to get there

I used fine sea salt instead of flaky and it tasted like Gatorade, woops :(

Excellent level of sweetness. Doesn’t leave you with a sugary craving feeling. Flavorful and warm, yet also light and refreshing. Worth the effort!

Please tell us which recipe provided this muddling tip. Thanks.

A big hit for cocktails with a few neighbors and friends!

Adds impressive depth of flavor to drinks. My non-alcoholic version with soda and OJ—all I had on hand—was simple and very tasty. I can imagine all sorts of uses for this!

It’s a little confusing how much lemon/orange juice you need. The notes say to juice the peeled lemons, but you might need more of them. The ingredients list says 1/4 c Orange juice. How much juice of lemons do you need?

NYT Cooking

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/11/30/multimedia/30punchrex-gjzq/30punchrex-gjzq-videoSixteenByNineJumbo1600.jpg

David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/11/30/multimedia/30punchrex-gjzq/30punchrex-gjzq-superJumbo.jpg

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/11/30/multimedia/30punchrex-gjzq/30punchrex-gjzq-mediumSquareAt3X.jpg

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Top 15 angostura bitters recipes from across the web

The most viewed angostura bitters recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine

Top Tags

Old-Fashioned

Manhattan

Krangostura Bitters Recipe

Smoked Horchata

Captain’s Blood

Jameson Old Fashioned

Singapore sling

Maple and rosemary Old Fashioned

Christmas Day Clementine Sour

Cobra's Fang (Classic Tiki Cocktail...

Singapore Sling

Old Fashioned & Top Drinks with...

Maple Bourbon Sour

Maple Old Fashioned

Spiced Holiday Punch for Everyone

Top 15 angostura bitters recipes from across the web

The most viewed angostura bitters recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Old-Fashioned

Manhattan

Krangostura Bitters Recipe

Smoked Horchata

Captain’s Blood

Jameson Old Fashioned

Singapore sling

Maple and rosemary Old Fashioned

Christmas Day Clementine Sour

Cobra's Fang (Classic Tiki Cocktail...

Singapore Sling

Old Fashioned &amp; Top Drinks with...

Maple Bourbon Sour

Maple Old Fashioned

Spiced Holiday Punch for Everyone

The most viewed angostura bitters recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine

Old Fashioned & Top Drinks with...