The Maple Old Fashioned, and Three More Maple Cocktails Worth Making This Fall
The Old Fashioned is spirit, sugar, bitters and water, and the sugar has always been the weak link. A cube muddled in the glass dissolves unevenly; simple syrup dissolves fine and tastes of nothing. Maple syrup solves both problems. It is already a liquid, so it integrates cold, and it brings caramel, wood and, in the darker grades, a faint bitterness that does part of the bitters' job. Bartenders in Vermont and Quebec have used it for generations. The rest of the country caught up about a decade ago and has not gone back.
This is the Maple Old Fashioned made precisely, plus three drinks that follow from it: a maple whiskey sour, a maple toddy for the first cold night, and a zero-proof maple ginger fizz for anyone who wants the flavor without the whiskey. Our maple syrup guide explains the grades; the short version for the bar is that darker is better.
Which syrup for the bar
Golden and Amber maple are for pancakes. In a cocktail their flavor gets lost behind the spirit. Dark or Very Dark, the late-season grades with deep caramel and a savory edge, stand up to whiskey and are the ones to use. Runamok's Sugarmaker's Cut is the default: organic, full-flavored and balanced. Sugarmaker's Dark, the wood-fired late-season syrup, is deeper still and makes a darker, more brooding Old Fashioned. And the rye barrel-aged syrup, rested in WhistlePig casks, is the shortcut to a drink that tastes as if it had been aging in the bottle for a month.
If you would rather not measure bitters, Runamok's Maple Old Fashioned mixer has the bitters and the syrup already combined: two ounces of whiskey, a bar spoon of the mixer, stir, twist. It is the bottle for anyone who wants a great drink and not a hobby.
The Maple Old Fashioned
Makes one.
- 2 ounces rye whiskey or bourbon
- 1 bar spoon (about a quarter ounce) dark maple syrup
- 2 dashes Angostura aromatic bitters
- 1 dash orange bitters, optional
- Orange peel
- One large ice cube
- Combine the whiskey, maple syrup and bitters in a mixing glass. Fill with ice and stir for about twenty seconds, until the outside of the glass is cold and frosted. Stirring, not shaking, keeps the drink clear and silky.
- Strain over a single large ice cube in a heavy rocks glass. A big cube melts slowly and keeps the drink from thinning.
- Cut a wide strip of orange peel, hold it skin side down over the glass and squeeze so the oils spray across the surface. Rub the rim with the peel and drop it in.
Rye gives a spicier, drier drink; bourbon a rounder, sweeter one. The maple leans the drink toward sweet, so we go a little lighter on syrup than we would on sugar and let people add a few drops if they want. Two dashes of Angostura is not negotiable; our Angostura guide explains what those two dashes are doing. The barware, mixing glass, bar spoon and heavy rocks glass are in our bar tools collection, and the full home bar is in our home bar guide.
The Maple Whiskey Sour
A sour is spirit, citrus and sweetener, shaken hard. Maple replaces simple syrup and turns a bright drink into an autumn one. Makes one.
- 2 ounces bourbon
- 3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 ounce dark maple syrup
- 1 egg white, optional, for the classic foam
- 2 dashes Angostura bitters, for the top
- If using egg white, combine everything except the bitters in a shaker without ice and shake for ten seconds to build foam. Add ice and shake hard for another fifteen.
- Without egg white, shake everything with ice for fifteen seconds.
- Strain into a chilled coupe, or over ice in a rocks glass. Dash the bitters onto the foam.
The Maple Toddy
The drink for the first night the furnace comes on. Makes one.
- 1 1/2 ounces bourbon or rye
- 1/2 ounce dark maple syrup
- 1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
- 4 ounces hot water, just off the boil
- 1 dash Angostura bitters
- A lemon wheel and, if you like, a cinnamon stick
- Warm a heatproof glass or mug with hot water, then empty it.
- Add the whiskey, maple, lemon and bitters. Top with the hot water and stir.
- Float the lemon wheel; add the cinnamon stick.
At Denver's altitude, "just off the boil" is about 202°F, which is a kinder temperature for a toddy than the sea-level 212; our altitude guide covers the rest of what changes up here.
The Zero-Proof Maple Ginger Fizz
A long drink with real character for anyone not drinking; the ginger and lemon supply the bite the whiskey would have. Makes one.
- 1/2 ounce dark maple syrup
- 3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 ounce ginger syrup, or a thumb of fresh ginger muddled
- 4 to 5 ounces cold soda water
- 2 dashes Angostura bitters, optional; note that bitters contain alcohol
- Lemon wheel
- Combine maple, lemon and ginger in a tall glass and stir until the maple dissolves.
- Fill with ice and top with soda. Stir once.
- Add the bitters if using; garnish with the lemon wheel.
For the fully alcohol-free version leave out the bitters, or swap in a dash of a zero-proof aromatic; our non-alcoholic drinks guide covers the options. And for a party trick, a bar spoon of Runamok's Sparkle Syrup in place of the plain maple makes the fizz shimmer, which delights children and most adults.
Notes for the bar
Keep the maple in the refrigerator once opened and let the bottle sit out ten minutes before mixing so it pours. Measure it; maple is sweeter than it looks and a heavy hand turns an Old Fashioned into dessert. Cold matters more than usual, because maple's viscosity reads as heaviness in a warm drink; chill glasses, use big ice, stir long. And taste your syrup before you build the drink. Each grade and each barrel-aged bottle changes the recipe a little, which is the pleasure of using a real ingredient instead of sugar.
The syrups, the bitters and the barware are at 263 Josephine Street in Cherry Creek, Denver, and ship nationwide from theambrosianpantry.com. The whiskey is your department.
