Maple Old Fashioned

Let me start out by saying that in its true form, this is not a super sweet, “mapled up” whiskey drink. As much as I like maple syrup (and want you to consume mass quantities!) I’m not a big fan of those drinks. I have tried some really sweet (overdone) maple whiskeys. You can still get towards that if you want by tilting the maple bottle a little further, but this recipe has very subtle maple undertones and still allows you to taste your favorite bourbon. I’m confident that you won’t hold back from using the good stuff after you’ve dialed this in.

A great buddy of mine dug into the history of the drink and found a nearly perfect “old school” Old Fashioned recipe, that we made more perfecter(?) with a couple tweaks and of course the addition of maple syrup. This is a great starting point, but don’t be afraid to tune it to your taste by varying the ingredient quantities. Just don’t work on it too much in a single session!!

You will need:

• Rocks glass

• 1/2-1 tsp maple syrup

• dash of water (roughly the same quantity as syrup is a good starting point)

• A large ice cube (use whatever you have, but I can’t endorse this unless it is a single big round/square/whatever you come up with ice cube. It really makes a difference)

• a few dashes Angostura Bitters

• 2 oz Rye or Bourbon

• Citrus peel (no pulp!) I always use lemon, sometimes I add an orange peel to it also

Add the Maple Syrup and water to rocks glass and mix. Add the large ice cube and dash bitters over it. Pour whiskey over the ice cube. Holding the citrus peel skin side down over the surface of the drink, squeeze to release aromatic oils into the cocktail, and then drop it in the glass. Give it a brief stir and you are all set!