Rum Old Fashioned
A rich, caramel-sweet twist on the classic, with aged rum taking the whiskey's place with depth and spice.
Ingredients
- Dark rum, aged, ideally 7 years or more in cask60 ml
- Rich simple syrup, 2:1 demerara syrup, for caramel richness (2 parts Sugar, 1 part Water)7.5 ml
- Aromatic bitters (Angostura)e.g. Angostura2 dashes
- Orange bitters2 dashes
- Orange, expressed over the drink for its oils (optional)1 strip
- Cocktail cherry, to garnish, optional (optional)1 whole
Method
- Pour the demerara syrup, Angostura bitters and orange bitters into a mixing glass.
- Add the aged rum.
- Fill the glass with plenty of ice and stir calmly for 20–30 seconds, until cold and lightly diluted.
- Strain into a rocks glass over one large, clear ice cube.
- Express the oils from a piece of orange peel over the drink and drop the peel into the glass.
- Add a cocktail cherry as a garnish, if you like.
About this drink
The Old Fashioned family goes back to the whiskey cocktails of the 1800s, but rum has always been a natural alternative thanks to its own sweetness and spiced depth. Choose an aged rum, ideally matured in ex-whiskey casks, and you get notes of vanilla, wood and spice that sit well with the bitters and dark syrup. The molasses sweetness of demerara syrup is the key to lifting the rum's character without drowning it.
