Name: Irish Old Fashioned
Prep time: 5 min
Yield: 1
Cuisine: Whiskey
Ingredients: .25 ounce simple syrup; 2 ounces Irish Whiskey; 2 dashes orange bitters

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Last Updated on March 20, 2024 by Leah Hall

Come and celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with an Irish Old Fashioned! This simple cocktail only calls for three ingredients and takes a couple minutes to make.

Don’t feel like you have to save this Irish Old Fashioned just for St. Patrick’s Day because this smooth sipper is perfect all year long. Granted, this Irish version is the perfect way to celebrate the Emerald Isle and have a happy St Patrick’s Day. Try some Irish Cream cocktails like our Blizzard or Bailey’s Colada.

An Irish Old Fashioned is based on the classic cocktail recipe, an Old Fashioned. There are all kinds of Old-Fashioned drinks, they are a delicious cocktail. The original recipe is made with whiskey, and all are spirit-forward cocktails like Bourbon Old Fashioneds, Rye whiskey, Rum, tequila, mezcal, vodka, and even a Cognac Old Fashioned or Brandy Old Fashioned.

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We have a ton of other St Patrick’s Day and Irish whiskey cocktails like an Irish Mule, Nutty Irishman, Classic Irish Coffee, Frozen Irish Coffee, Irish Whiskey cocktail, Slainte Irish Whiskey Cocktail, Irish Sour, Toasted Irish Cream Coffee, and more!

Ingredients Needed for the Irish Old Fashioned

A classic Old Fashioned cocktail is just 3 ingredients, so to get close to the real thing, we used 3 ingredients, too.

Irish Whiskey – There are many brands to choose from, including Tullamore D E W, Jameson Irish Whiskey, Bushmills and Teeling. The flavors of any of these are an ideal choice to make a great cocktail.
Simple Syrup – This gives this Old Fashioned a touch of sweetness. Make our homemade simple syrup recipe! You can use a sugar cube if you would like instead, but we prefer simple syrup for ease of stirring. Just muddle sugar with a muddler along with the bitters to dissolve them.
Bitters – We used an orange bitters, but feel free to use a couple dashes of Angostura bitters if you don’t have orange.

How to Make an Irish Old Fashioned

Making an Old Fashioned is easy. First, you add Irish whiskey, simple syrup and a few dashes of orange bitters into a mixing glass.

Then, add ice and stir the cocktail with a bar spoon for 20-30 seconds. This helps chill the drink and slightly dilute it as well.

Finally, pour the drink over a large ice cube in a rocks glass and garnish with an orange peel or garnish of your choice to make your own Old Fashioned recipe.

Tips & Tricks

Do you shake an Old Fashioned? No, you should always stir an Old Fashioned. Shaking is designed for a cocktail with fresh fruit juice in it.
Garnish – we used a fun little green sparkly top hat as a garnish for St Patrick’s Day. Or a sprig of mint for a pop of green as well. A classic garnish choice would be a brandied cherry. Some other options are an orange twist or orange slice on the edge of the glass.
Glassware – a rocks glass is the classic choice.
Ice – you know we love a large clear ice cube, and an Old Fashioned is the most popular cocktail to use them. So we encourage you to get a silicone mold (one of our favorite things) to make big ice cubes at home yourself!
Whiskey – if you want to change things up a bit, you can. To stay in the vein of Irish Whiskey, maybe use Jameson Orange to give more orange flavor, or Jameson Black Barrel, but they are still Irish Whiskey. But, these best whiskey is the whiskey you like. There are so many options for flavor profiles: single malts, whiskey aged in sherry barrels,
Sweetener – again, you don’t need a lot of simple syrup in this cocktail, but if you want it sweeter or less sweeter, feel free to put in as much as you would like. We usually don’t add more than .25 ounce, but feel free to go up to .50 ounce if you want it sweeter. If you don’t want to make the traditional simple syrup version, you can sub in maple syrup, brown sugar or demerara sugar in the syrup instead.

Cheers to this Old-Fashioned Cocktail!

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Like this recipe? Try these below, too!

Spiced Old Fashioned

Christmas Old Fashioned

Other Old Fashioned Recipes

Irish Old Fashioned

Prep Time: 5 minutes

An Irish Old Fashioned is perfect for St Patrick's Day and all year long! Make this super simple cocktail recipe to celebrate Irish whiskey.

Ingredients

.25 ounce simple syrup
2 ounces Irish Whiskey
2 dashes orange bitters

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass.
Add ice and stir with a bar spoon 20-30 seconds.
Strain into rocks glass with large ice cube.
Garnish as you like.
Cheers!

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

2.5 ounces
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 580Sodium: 18mgCarbohydrates: 21.2gSugar: .2g

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