Irish Old Fashioned

Irish whiskey, bitters, and sugar — the Old Fashioned (Balance and Columbian Repository, 1806) applied to Irish pot still, unmalted barley adding apple and spice.

The Irish Old Fashioned applies the oldest continuously documented American cocktail formula to Irish whiskey, demonstrating that the four-ingredient template — spirit, sugar, bitters, and minimal water or ice — works as effectively with Ireland's triple-distilled grain spirit as with the Kentucky bourbon most commonly associated with the Old Fashioned today. The Old Fashioned's foundational structure was first defined in the Balance and Columbian Repository newspaper in Hudson, New York on May 13, 1806, and the format has been prepared continuously since. Irish pot still whiskey — the style unique to Ireland, made from a mix of malted and unmalted barley distilled in copper pot stills and most famously represented by Redbreast, Green Spot, and Powers expressions — carries a specific spice and fruit character from the green, unmalted barley in the mash that distinguishes it from both Scotch and American grain spirits. In an Old Fashioned framework, Irish pot still whiskey's inherent apple, spice, and grain complexity interacts with Angostura bitters' clove and cinnamon aromatics to produce a drink that is simultaneously recognizable as an Old Fashioned and identifiably Irish in character. The lighter body of Irish whiskey compared to bourbon means the sugar's role is more moderating than it is in a caramel-heavy bourbon version.