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Scotch, stirred

Scotch Old-Fashioned

Barline 2,1b,1,1,R

The code is the shorthand off my printed menu; the Key tab decodes every letter.

Stir with ice until cold, then strain.

Rocks, iced.

Open in the menu

Taste

Two ounces of scotch, one barspoon of simple, one dash of Angostura and one of orange bitters. One barspoon of simple is a trace of sweetness; peel and bark sit under the malt. Stirred, rocks with ice. Scotch first, then the two bitters against the whiskey.

History

The cocktail is spirit, sugar, water, and bitters, defined in The Balance and Columbian Repository on 13 May 1806. By the 1870s bartenders were dressing the Whiskey Cocktail with curacao and absinthe; drinkers who wanted the older formula asked for an old-fashioned whiskey cocktail. Scotch is one of the spirits that definition already allowed. This menu pours two ounces of scotch, one barspoon of simple, one dash of Angostura and one of orange bitters, over ice. No fruit.

Same shape, other bottles

The Old-Fashioned family, with the bottle that changed.

This is one drink on my home bar's menu. Tick the bottles you own and the menu lists which of all 185 drinks they pour.