Scotch Old Fashioned

A heavily peated whisky will bury the bitters and the orange oil under smoke. A blend, or a Highland or Speyside single malt, leaves room for both. If Islay is what you own, try a half-measure of it alongside something gentler.

Too much surface area on the ice. One large cube melts slowly; four small ones melt fast and dilute a 60 ml pour into something watery. Build on a single big cube and stir only until the outside of the glass frosts.

Syrup, if you want consistency. A cube needs muddling with bitters and a splash of water, and half of it usually stays granular at the bottom. Syrup dissolves on contact, which matters more with scotch because you are working with such a small amount of sweetener.

Old Fashioned garnish is a long argument. A slice sits in the glass and slowly perfumes the drink, which suits scotch's dryness; an expressed twist gives you a burst of oil up front and nothing after. Both are defensible. Muddled fruit is not.

A classic Scotch Old Fashioned calls for 60 ml (2 oz) Scotch whisky, 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 Scotch Old Fashioned is roughly 38% 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.

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