I had bought several “brown spirits” to round out my bar in my quest to learn to make more cocktails. One of the spirits, Buffalo Trace bourbon, seemed to cry out for an Old Fashioned. So, here is the recipe I used, my changes are in italics. I shook all of the ingredients, sans ice, in my martini shaker to make sure the sugar was completely diluted, and poured over an ice sphere. Depending on your own ice preference: slow to melt calls for one large cube or sphere while quick to melt calls for small ice cubes or chips.

I doubled the recipe below for two. We loved the smokiness of the bourbon and how it melded with the sugar and bitters. It was great with the chili recipe I made last week:

• 1 sugar cube
• 2 dashes Angostura Bitters
• 1 half dollar–sized slice orange peel, including pith (didn’t have it, will try next time!)
• lemon twist
• 2 ounces bourbon
• 1 maraschino cherry (I had the dark Morello ones from Trader Joe’s, they are NOT sweet, will be looking for dark and sweet Luxardo cherries next time! They are the ones commonly used in bars that make craft cocktails.)