Campfire Old Fashioned

There is nothing simpler or more satisfying than a good old fashioned. For lovers of alcohol on the rocks, sometimes we want just a little something extra or a warm up cocktail before we dive right into drinking it straight. Or for those aficionados who like that umph.

You can always tell an old fashioned drinker at the bar by their demeanor and dress. Usually men in suits, or at least well dressed. It is a refined drink that separates the double on the rocks guys from the men… though really it’s the same thing, with just a few tweeks. Let’s face it, if you’re drinking these, you really enjoy the taste of alcohol but may be shy to just order yourself the bottle whole. Damn societal pressures telling me what my limit is. Oh well.

That’s enough puff about the grand-daddy of cocktails, let’s just do it.

Start by measuring out the Roasted Marshmallow Syrup, pour it into your glass with a single large ice cube (or sphere, or dodecahedron, your choice, just make it big). Then in the same jigger, measure out your favourite deep flavoured bourbon, the lighter stuff just won’t hold up here. Then a few dashes of Chocolate Bitters, and maybe 1 dash of Angostura bitters, actually, all the dashes are up to personal taste.

Stir! A proper stir will consist of 20 turns of the ice in one direction and 20 the other direction. This is easiest to count on a cube, if you have opted for the dodecahedron then just count spoon spins. And if you’re taking me seriously on this counting nonesense, then maybe this drink is a bit advanced for you. Don’t let the simplicity of the ingredients and methodology trick you into thinking this is a beginners cocktail. If you have already started the drink and find it way too strong, just keep stiring, you will be diluting more water into the cocktail and hopefully get to a drinkable point. True old fashioned drinkers already made one before reading this post, cheers to you my intensely paleted brethren.

To garnish this masterpiece you can go the traditional route of spritzing some orange zest across the top, rimming the glass with some more of that wonderful orange oil, then discarding the rind into the drink. Or a toasted marshmallow works in this case, more for the picture really. To really get that campfire flavour out, I suggest torching some orange rind in the glass first, even before adding your ice, regardless of shape. But this is your old fashioned, you know how you like it, otherwise, you’d be drinking a vodka cran and watching TikTok ;)

¾ oz Roasted Marshmallow Syrup

2 oz Bourbon

3 Dashes of Chocolate Bitters