Irish Old Fashioned

A pot still whiskey, if you can find one. It carries a spicy, slightly oily weight that keeps the sugar company. Light triple-distilled blends can vanish under even a bar spoon of syrup, so if that is what you have, cut the sweetener in half.

It works better here than in most whiskey drinks, because Irish grain and honey share a lot of the same territory. Thin the honey with an equal part of warm water first, or it will sink and sit in a lump under the ice.

Angostura is the default and it is fine, but orange bitters flatter Irish whiskey's fruit more than clove and cinnamon do. Two dashes of orange, or one of each, gets you a drink that smells like the garnish before you taste it.

Same strength, different weight. Irish whiskey is usually bottled at 40 percent like most bourbon, but it reads lighter because there is no charred-barrel vanilla pushing forward. Lighter is not weaker; it just means the drink finishes cleaner and you notice the bitters more.

A classic Irish Old Fashioned calls for 60 ml (2 oz) Irish whiskey, 8 ml (0.25 oz) Simple syrup, 2 dashes Angostura Angostura bitters. That single-serve spec scales cleanly — the recipe above converts it to oz and multiplies it for 2–4 drinks.

A standard Irish Old Fashioned is roughly 35% ABV once mixed (before ice melt softens it further). That makes it spirit-forward — closer to a Martini than to a beer, so sip it slowly.

An Irish Old Fashioned is stirred, not shaken. It contains no citrus juice, so stirring keeps it crystal clear and silky instead of cloudy and aerated.