Beginner Whiskey Cocktails?

So, you have a bottle of whiskey and you don’t like drinking it straight. Or, maybe you don’t mind drinking it by itself but you are interested in changing things up a bit. You’d like to add a touch of pizzazz. Well, there are hundreds of variations out there for whiskey cocktails, but this article will give you three basic ones along with a few little fun ways to take them further. 

We are going to look at the Old-Fashioned, Mint Julep and Whiskey Sour. These are perfect for beginners because they have a short list of ingredients and the steps to make them are not complicated. The only thing is, everybody and their mother has written about these cocktails. Here, we’re going to go in-depth and explore the subtle but surprising ways to make them work for you. You won’t find exact measurements in this article. Instead, you’ll be given the tools to choose your own measurements confidently. So, let’s get started.

(Note: if you haven’t read my article on How to Taste Whiskey, then you should check it out. That page discusses how to appreciate the whiskey. This page is about how to make the whiskey work for the moment. I discuss the differences between those concepts there.) 

The Old-Fashioned is the best whiskey cocktail to begin with. It is also the only mixed drink whose ingredients are item-by-item listed in the first definition of “cocktail” that we have. According to an 1806 edition of The Balance and Columbian Repository in New York, it is “composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters.” In our case, the spirit is whiskey. If it were made with another spirit it might have a different name, but it would still be in the Old-Fashioned family (more on this later). The water in a modern day Old-Fashioned is in the form of ice, and the sugar and bitters are where most of the fun happens.

Considering the base, which whiskey should one choose for an Old-Fashioned? Rye, Bourbon, Scotch, Irish, Indian, Japanese, Taiwanese, etc., are much beloved and they each bring something unique to the cocktail. I would recommend looking at oak before anything else. Do you like a lot of oak? Reach for a straight bourbon or a straight rye whiskey, since they are required to be aged in new charred oak barrels for at least two years (usually longer). They will deliver lots of vanilla and caramel sweetness with a good amount of spice. If you want less oak, then reach for a Scotch, Irish or Japanese whisky/ey that is aged for around 10 or 12 years. These are typically aged in used barrels that do not overpower their flavor with oakiness. Even though on paper they’re often aged for longer than bourbons or ryes are, they’ll actually have less oak influence. Thus, they will bring more fruit and toffee notes to the drink, and less bitterness. 

If you are brand new to American whiskey but you’re experienced in other styles, I suggest putting your bourbon or rye in an Old-Fashioned before trying to drink it neat. The dilution and added sweetness will help to ease you into the category. But if you are completely new to all whiskey, I suggest searching your local liquor store for a blended Scotch whisky (unpeated) to use. These are the least offensive to new palates, inexpensive, and are fantastic for beginners. Irrespective of which whisky/ey you end up choosing, though, it should be the main ingredient in an Old-Fashioned. That means there should be at least three to five times more whiskey than any other flavor agent in the drink. 

The second ingredient in an Old-Fashioned is sugar. Back in the day, it was granulated. Today’s Old-Fashioned usually has simple syrup instead of cubes because the sugar is already dissolved and hence can be more thoroughly mixed into the drink. More sciency-minded bartenders will recommend syrup instead of cubes for this reason. More traditionally-minded bartenders will swear by sugar cubes for the other side of that coin: if some of the sugar doesn’t dissolve and will just sit at the bottom of the glass, then your last sip of the drink will be oh-so sweet and special. They are also likely to be ruled by a fixed protocol when mixing an Old-Fashioned, such as soaking the sugar cube with bitters before pouring a bit of club soda over it and then muddling gently, etc. It’s a whole ritual, believe me. 

There isn’t one group that’s right about this and one that’s wrong. The whole thing is about what you prefer. If you want the drink to taste about the same from the first sip to the last, use syrup. If you want it to transform as you drink it, starting dry and ending sweet, go with granulated sugar or sugar cubes. My choice, personally, is syrup with gum arabic in it, which gives the drink a silky texture. 

Along those lines, why stop at sugar or syrup? If you think about it, there are many liqueurs and dessert wines that can add quite a bit of flavor with sweetness when put in an Old-Fashioned. I think that Pedro-Ximénez sherry or vin santo work wonders if you’d like to add some nutty wine notes to the drink. Alternatively, Bénédictine liqueur brings a complex honey-herbal character, and Tempus Fugit Crème de Cacao has lots of vanilla and chocolate. (As you’re looking for liqueurs to experiment with as a sweetening agent, consider the category of Crèmes. They come in a variety of flavors and are always sweet. Under EU laws, to be a crème the product must have a sugar content of at least 25% or, for crème de cassis, the minimum is 40%).

I suggest experimenting with a sugar-to-whiskey ratio of between 1:4 and 1:6. There is wiggle room here for a reason. Don’t worry about making it too sweet or not sweet enough. If you have added a little too much syrup then top the drink off with a bit more whiskey and stir it. Since the Old-Fashioned is mixed in the glass, there aren’t a lot of ways to ruin it. 

Next up is water. As I said before, the modern day Old-Fashioned has ice in it. (Can you imagine if no cocktails could have ice in them? Yuck.) Adding ice to a cocktail does two things: it lowers temperature and it dilutes. Lowering the temperature makes the drink more refreshing, while dilution makes it more palatable. But diluting the alcohol also dilutes the flavor, and lowering the temperature of the drink also closes it up. So, one must strike a balance between not too cold and not cold enough, not too strong and not strong enough. 

Generally, the more surface area of ice, the more it cools. And yet the smaller the piece of ice, the faster it melts. So, if you don’t want your Old-Fashioned to be too cold or too watered down, stay away from packing the glass with shaved ice. If you’ve ever been in a fancy bar, then you have probably seen bartenders using a single, large clear-ice cube per drink. Sometimes it's a clear-ice ball. The reason is that using one big chunk of ice is perfect for having lots of surface area to chill the drink while restricting the amount of dilution. It still melts, just more slowly. Clear ice melts especially slowly, since it is denser than regular ice. I highly recommend the clear-ice makers for your home bar, but if you’re on a budget then just get the ice molds that make large cubes. These are going to be much better than your freezer ice. Trust me. 

Lastly, let’s talk about bitters. Bitters are awesome. They are highly concentrated aromatic and flavoring extracts that are held in a spirit solution. They’re also high in alcohol, but you don’t notice because you use them only in dashes. Trust me, you don’t want to drink cocktail bitters by themselves. But a few drops of bitters in a cocktail can do wonderful things. 

For the beginner, I recommend the original bitters brand for an Old-Fashioned, Angostura. It has been around longer than the Old-Fashioned has, and established the category of cocktail bitters alongside its near-equally famous and long-time competitor, Peychaud’s. Every brand that wants to be used in an Old-Fashioned knows that it will be compared to Angostura. And for this reason, I think beginners should be well-acquainted with it.

However, I don’t think you should limit yourself to it. Using Angostura in a cocktail along with other types of bitters often yields good results. Some flavors to look for are orange bitters, lemon bitters, chocolate bitters, and black walnut bitters. Have fun with it, but start out with just a few dashes each: no more than six, and I would suggest three. 

Once you have everything in the glass, stir it until it is thoroughly mixed and chilled. 

Now we know how to build an Old-Fashioned, but there is something missing. How to present it. Garnishes are not required, so don’t feel like you have to run to the store to get oranges to peel for your drink if you don’t already have any. But they do add a subtle sophistication. A quick twist and squeeze of the peel before setting it on the rim of your glass will express fresh oils on the surface, which add to the experience. Also, it makes the drink look nice, which should not be an ignored factor. The orange twist is traditional, but you can do an orange wheel, or a lemon twist, or a cherry, or all of the above! Play around with the flavor combinations until you find what you like. 

The Mint Julep is my favorite drink in the Old-Fashioned cocktail family. Yes, you read that correctly. The Mint Julep is a type of Old-Fashioned, according to myself and the authors of the Cocktail Codex, Alex Day, Nick Fauchald and David Kaplan. It isn’t hard to see why, as the ingredients for a Mint Julep are just whiskey, sugar, ice, and mint. Here, mint takes the place of bitters in the cocktail (don’t try to do both). 

The Mint Julep has a strange relationship with the word, “traditional.” You see, if I claimed that traditionally a Mint Julep is made with brandy or rye instead of bourbon, that it has cracked ice instead of shaved or crushed ice, and that it is served in glasses rather than silver derby cups, I would be putting a target on my back. But I would be using the word “traditionally” in a sense that is more akin to “historically,” since it is true that this version of the Mint Julep predates our modern one. But using the word “traditional” in a sense that is more in line with “culturally accepted over the last century and a half,” the mint julep is traditionally made with Kentucky straight bourbon, with shaved or crushed ice, and served in a silver (or stainless steel) julep cup. Long story short, it’s one of those cocktails (like the Martini) that has many variations and many different people claiming that theirs is the right one. 

I want you to shake off any anxieties that you might have about making someone upset at the way you enjoy Mint Juleps. I have found that there are good reasons to borrow from both of these “traditional” recipes, and not to be attached to a standard. 

Take the cup, for instance. Glass or silver? Kentucky Derby enthusiasts will insist on silver, and if you already have one then go for it. But if not, don’t feel obligated to spend $30-$50 on one. A short, thick glass might be better since it will keep the internal temperature of the drink cold for much longer than a metal cup will (especially silver, since it has high thermal conductivity). 

You already know that I don’t recommend using crushed, shaved or pebble ice because these will make your Mint Julep too cold and too diluted at the same time. Instead, take the big ice cubes that you would otherwise use for an Old-Fashioned and crack it into 3-5 good chunks. The shards and smaller pieces will dissolve quickly as you stir the drink, but the larger chunks from cracking it will remain and chill your drink for a longer time. Do that for one or two large cubes, depending on how tall your glass is, and it will do a better job of keeping your Mint Julep both refreshing and full-flavored. 

I do agree with the Kentucky Derby enthusiasts on one thing: use bourbon! Don’t get me wrong, cognac and rye are also great, but bourbon (certainly Kentucky straight bourbon) simply sings when paired with fresh mint. I think everyone’s first Mint Julep should be made with bourbon, and if you’d like to take it further and experiment with different spirits, then go for it. But try it with America’s native spirit first. 

Lastly, we have to talk about the Whiskey Sour. This cocktail is part of the Sour/Daiquiri family, which is basically the category of mixed drinks that use sugar and citrus as secondary flavors, bringing the spirit base out of focus. The whiskey in a Sour should still be the main flavor, which is why it is also the largest volume ingredient in the recipe, but it should not be in as much focus as it is in the Mint Julep or the Old-Fashioned. Therefore, consider using both simple syrup and citrus juice in a 1:2 ratio to the whiskey, rather than a 1:4 or 1:5 like in the more spirit-forward drinks. The goal of a Whiskey Sour is to be a refreshment, so it should be cold and acidic and sweet. It should have brightness and lift. 

As a general rule, aged spirits don’t pair with the dry, tart, astringent character of lime juice very well. Blanco tequila (margarita), white rum (daiquiri), vodka (caipiroska), or gin (gimlet) are all fantastic with lime. But oak brings a lot of acidity and astringency in the form of tannin, and so typically an aged spirit like whiskey tastes more balanced when it is with a lighter, sweeter citrus like lemon. That’s why Whiskey Sours are almost always suggested to be made with lemon juice rather than lime. There have been a few Whiskey Sours that have had equal portions of lime and lemon, and pulled it off. But selecting the right whiskey is key to this. 

I’ve found that the smokier qualities of peated Scotch pair gorgeously with lemon juice, and so I suggest playing around with those whiskies. To give you a nudge in the right direction, try using Talisker 10 in your next Whisky Sour with fresh lemon juice and ginger syrup instead of simple. Shake it with lots of ice and an egg white (as in a Boston Sour) and serve it up in a stemmed glass (shake it once with ice and again without, maintaining the foam). This is much like the Penicillin but with a twist. The egg white will give it body and a silky mouthfeel; ginger syrup brings sweetness and heat; lemon juice brings lightness and acidity; and the Scotch gives it a savory depth. This is a guest-favorite when I host at my place. 

I hope that this has given you some ideas to explore on your own. If you would like to know more about the subject, such as what bourbon is or how to taste whiskey by itself, I have articles for that. My purpose for writing these is to give you free insight into the world of booze. So, I’ve made information available to you that I had to spend quite a lot of resources and time acquiring. 

On behalf of Distillare, I hope it benefits you as a consumer of lavish libations.

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