Our Irish Old Fashioned Recipe: For Those In Search Of A Swanky Sip

An Irish Old Fashioned is a take on arguably one of the worlds best-known cocktails

And, while it doesn’t alter the original recipe too much, it adds a nice twist to an old-favourite.

In the guide below, you’ll find an easy-to-follow Irish whiskey Old Fashioned combo that packs a punch.

Some quick need-to-knows before making the Irish Old Fashioned

Before you look into how to make an Old Fashioned, take 20 seconds to read the points below (they’ll make your life easier and your drink tastier):

1. Don’t skimp on the whiskey

I’m not talking about the portion here, I’m talking about the quality. If you can, opt for a mid-range brand, like Dingle, or grab one of the bottles from our guide to the best Irish whiskey brands.

2. This needs a bit of prep

Our Irish Old Fashioned recipe requires both orange bitters​ and Angostura bitters, which most people won’t have on-hand and which can be tricky to get in some stores. You can, however, find them easily online. 

Irish Old Fashioned ingredients

So, unlike some Irish whiskey cocktails, the ingredients for the Irish Old Fashioned aren’t too bog standard (unless you have orange and Angostura bitters lying around, that is), so you many need to order them online in advance:

• 60ml of Irish whiskey​ (2 ounces)
• 15ml of sugar syrup​ (1/2 an ounce)
• 2 dashes of orange bitters​
• 2 dashes of Angostura bitters

How to make an Irish Old Fashioned

Once you have all of the ingredients for your Irish whiskey Old Fashioned mix, it’s time to assemble. Thankfully, this is quick and easy:

Step 1: Chill the glass

You can either stick your glass into the fridge for 15 to 20 minutes or your can take some ice, place it into the glass and swirl it around until the glass is nice and cool (usually 15 seconds max).

Step 2: Assemble your Old Fashioned

If you have a fancy block of ice like the one in the photo above, happy days. If you don’t, just half fill your glass with regular ice and then pour 2 ounces of your favourite Irish whiskey into the glass along with 1/2 an ounce of sugar syrup.

Then pop in 2 dashes of orange bitters and 2 dashes of Angostura bitters.

Step 3: Garnish and serve

Give your Irish whiskey Old Fashioned mix a gentle stir and then garnish with a twist of orange. You’ll see some people adding green food colouring to their Old Fashioned cocktail to make it ‘look Irish’, but that really isn’t necessary.

Discover more Irish cocktails like this

Looking to sip away on some other cocktails like the Irish Old Fashioned? Here’s some of our most popular drink guides to hop into:

• Best St Patrick’s Day Drinks: 17 Easy + Tasty St Patrick’s Day Cocktails
• 18 Traditional Irish Cocktails That Are Easy To Make (And Very Tasty)
• 14 Delicious Jameson Cocktails To Try This Weekend
• 15 Irish Whiskey Cocktails That’ll Tantalise Your Tastebuds
• 17 Of The Tastiest Irish Drinks (From Irish Beers To Irish Gins)

FAQs about Old Fashioned drink recipes

We’ve had a lot of questions over the years asking about everything from ‘Which Old Fashioned drink recipes are the strongest?’ to ‘Is this recipe also called a Benedictine Old Fashioned?’.

In the section below, we’ve popped in the most FAQs that we’ve received. If you have a question that we haven’t tackled, ask away in the comments section below.