Jamaican Old Fashioned

An old fashioned is a cocktail made with spirits, bitters, water and sugar. It is typically garnished with a cherry and a twist – or slice – of orange. When you think of an old fashioned, you probably think bourbon, since whiskey is the most often used base spirit for an old fahsioned, however this style of cocktail can be made with any spirit as a base. This particular old fashioned is made with rum as a base and it will deliver a completely different flavor profile than the “traditional” old fashioned if you are a drinker who usually sticks with whiskey in this drink.

Like any old fashioned, you want to start with a high quality base spirit for good results and I used an aged Jamaican rum, Appleton Estate 12 Year Old Rum. This rum is a blend of rums aged 12 to 18 years. The rums that make up this blend are distilled in copper pot stills and have a lot of those funky, tropical fruit flavors that Jamaican rums are known for, however they also have smooth vanilla and oak notes that tame those fruits and make this rum extremely good as a sipping rum – even if you’re not usually a big rum drinker. The complex rum is accented with spicy Jamaican bitters, which are made with allspice and pepper to compliment the tropical banana and coconut flavors in the rum, and lightly sweetened with simple syrup. I skipped the cherry on mine, but kept in the orange peel for the aroma. I tend to like this old fashioned a bit sweeter because the rum works very well with a bit of extra sugar, but feel free to sweeten to taste when you give it a try.

Glassware: Old Fashioned
Method: Stir

Ingredients
2 oz. Appleton Estate 12 Year Rum (or other aged Jamaican Rum)
1-2 tsp. Simple Syrup
6-10 Drops Bittercube Jamaican Bitters #1
Orange Twist

Pour the rum, simple syrup and bitters into an old fashioned glass. Add ice and stir. Squeeze the orange twist over the drink and drop it in before serving.