Mixology at Home - Black Walnut Old Fashioned

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - We’re going Old School for this week’s Mixology, a classic Old Fashioned.

It usually has three ingredients, bourbon, a couple of dashes of aromatic bitters and sugar. Substitute a syrup for the sugar, change the bitters and you have an entirely different cocktail.

We have discussed syrups and bitters in previous Mixology at Home segments, and I admit that I can be a little heavy-handed on the bitters. And that’s wrong. Bitters adds flavors such as flowers, herbs, fruit, even tobacco. Of course, my attempts with Turkish tobacco bitters were not successful. Bitters is the “seasoning” in cocktails. Too much or too little ruins the drink.

The syrups can be just a one-to-one ratio of water and sugar (called simple syrup) or added ingredients such as honey, brown sugar, as well as spices. We have some syrup recipes here.

For this drink we will go with black walnut bitters and brown sugar syrup. The bourbon you use can also make or break a drink. Unless you are a real connoisseur of bourbons, and you have a great palate, getting the right bourbon will be trial and error. That’s me, unfortunately.

In a mixing glass with ice, add two ounces of bourbon, two dashes of black walnut bitters and a half ounce of brown sugar syrup. Stir to chill and mix, then strain into an Old Fashioned glass and garnish with a cherry and orange peel.

I don’t buy “kits” of syrups and bitters but honestly, it isn’t a bad idea to get a mixture of bitters and syrups to find the ones you like. Then buy the ones you like. As a rule, every bar should have at least aromatic and orange bitters. A kit of six small bottles of bitters enabling you to make a couple dozen drinks can run from about $30. Regular bottles usually run from about $15 to $25, depending on the brand and flavor.

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