Old Fashioned

In 1895, Kappeler told bartenders to mix sugar, water, Angostura bitters, ice, lemon peel and whiskey, then leave the spoon in the glass.[6] The Old Fashioned's appeal still rests on that spare combination: whiskey, sugar, bitters and water, served with ice in a short glass. The International Bartenders Association (IBA) specifies bourbon or rye. Its history reaches back through earlier Whiskey Cocktails, with no single inventor securely identified.[12][3]

How to make an Old Fashioned

Dissolve the sugar with bitters and water, add whiskey over ice, then stir in the serving glass. This is the IBA specification, presented as a reference recipe rather than one tested by this site.[12]

Recipe card

Serves: one
Glass: old fashioned glass, a short tumbler
Ice: enough to fill the glass
Origin: disputed, particularly the claim that it was invented at Louisville's Pendennis Club.[11][3]

All ingredients and quantities follow the IBA specification.[12]

1. Put the sugar cube in the glass and soak it with the bitters.
2. Add the water and muddle until the sugar dissolves.
3. Fill the glass with ice and add the whiskey.
4. Stir gently, then add the garnish.[12]

Serve a measured portion, with water, food and breaks; nobody needs to finish the glass. These measures do not remove the risks associated with drinking alcohol. People who are pregnant or trying to conceive, taking medicines that interact with alcohol, living with conditions made worse by alcohol or recovering from alcohol dependence should not drink.

Bourbon or rye?

Both belong. The IBA specification allows either, and rye has deep roots in the drink's history. Robert Vermeire specified it in 1922; an 1882 Chicago bartender interview, reported by the Chicago Tribune, said rye was ordered more often than bourbon.[12][8][3]

There is no need to treat bourbon as the authentic choice and rye as a substitute. Choose between the two categories for this recipe. The whisky cocktail guide gives wider context, while the Manhattan and Sazerac cocktail offer further drinks to explore.

Origin: following the story through the record

The word “cocktail” came before the name Old Fashioned. Three milestones tell the story: the appearance of “cocktail”, requests for an “old-fashioned” cocktail, and recipes printed under that name. Each marks a different stage in the drink's development, not an interchangeable invention date.[1][3][4]

Before the familiar name: sugar and bitters

Word Histories identifies the earliest recorded drink use of “cocktail” in London's The Morning Post and Gazetteer, dated 20 March 1798. Its earliest known definition followed in a different newspaper in 1806.[1]

Source: https://wordhistories.net/2019/09/19/cocktail-earliest-definition/

On 13 May 1806, The Balance, and Columbian Repository answered a reader's question after “cock tail” had appeared in the paper the previous week. The reply described “a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters”. Here is the early cocktail formula, though not yet a recipe named Old Fashioned.[1]

Source: https://wordhistories.net/2019/09/19/cocktail-earliest-definition/

Theodore Proulx's revised 1888 manual printed two recipes called “Old-fashioned Cocktail”, placing the named drink in a bartender's recipe book.[4]

Source: https://euvs-vintage-cocktail-books.cld.bz/1888-Bartender-s-Manual-by-Theodore-Proulx-Revised-Edition

Source [1] supports the 1798 reference, the 1806 definition and the reader exchange; source [4] supports Proulx's two named recipes. Last checked: 7 November 2026.

Between those milestones, Jerry Thomas's 1862 The Bar-Tenders' Guide shows how much the serving method could differ. His “Whiskey Cocktail” combined gum syrup, bitters, whiskey and lemon peel. It called for fine ice, shaking and straining into a fancy red wine glass: a different presentation from today's short tumbler.[2]

The name in Chicago

Historian David Wondrich, quoted by the Chicago Tribune, identifies an 1880 report mentioning “old-fashioned cocktails” at a political toast by Samuel Tilden's allies. The newspaper's historical account also quotes an 1882 bartender describing old-fashioned cocktails made with loaf sugar and whisky.[3]

The 1880 reference comes through Wondrich's reporting, rather than an independently checked newspaper page. Together, these Chicago references challenge the later Louisville account.

The Pendennis Club claim

Disputed

Louisville's Pendennis Club claims to have invented the Old Fashioned between 1889 and 1895. Difford's reports the club's account: bartender Martin Cuneo made the drink for bourbon distiller Colonel James E. Pepper during that period.[11]

The reported Chicago references from 1880 and 1882 come earlier. Difford's also notes that former club manager Jacques Straub's 1914 Drinks did not claim the invention for the club.[3][11] The sources checked do not establish where the club's precise claim first appeared.

Sources: Difford's account, undated; Chicago Tribune, 15 May 2017.

Last checked: 7 November 2026.

The first printed recipe

Disputed

PUNCH identifies Proulx's 1888 manual as containing the first Old Fashioned recipe printed in a cocktail book. Kappeler's 1895 “Old-Fashioned Whiskey Cocktail” is another frequently cited early printed recipe.[5][9]

The site's record retains the competing Proulx and Kappeler attributions as disputed, with neither treated as an uncontested first. The sources checked do not establish where the first recipe claim originated; Proulx's revised manual is dated 1888.[4]

Sources: Proulx, revised edition, 1888; PUNCH, 18 March 2019; Chanticleer Society, undated.

Last checked: 7 November 2026.

Lemon peel, orange and the question of fruit

Lemon peel appears repeatedly in the early recipes, but the details vary. Proulx's 1888 version included absinthe alongside sugar, syrup, bitters, lemon peel, ice and whisky. His second version left one chunk of ice in the glass rather than straining the drink.[4]

Kappeler's 1895 method began by dissolving sugar with water, unlike Proulx's combination of sugar and syrup. His lemon peel and instruction to leave the spoon in the glass offer another contrast with the modern orange and cherry garnish.[6][12] Vermeire also used lemon peel in 1922.[8]

These cited early recipes do not support a claim that muddled orange and cherry were essential from the beginning. Difford's places that practice in the Prohibition era. In the modern IBA recipe, orange and cherry finish the drink as garnish; they are not muddled into the sugar.[10][12]

Where to go next

• Whisky Cocktails: The Complete Guide: explore the wider cocktail guide.
• Manhattan: follow another bourbon and rye classic.
• Sazerac Cocktail: explore another cocktail with a contested origin story.

Sources

[1] Word Histories. 1806: earliest definition of 'cocktail' (mixed drink with a spirit base). 2019.
https://wordhistories.net/2019/09/19/cocktail-earliest-definition/

[2] Jerry Thomas. The Bar-Tenders' Guide. Dick & Fitzgerald, 1862. Duke University Libraries copy, Internet Archive transcription.
https://archive.org/stream/bartendersguide01thom/bartendersguide01thom_djvu.txt

[3] Chicago Tribune. Chicago's cocktail history is surprisingly bare. Why? 15 May 2017.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2017/05/15/chicagos-cocktail-history-is-surprisingly-bare-why/

[4] Theodore Proulx. The Bartender's Manual. Revised edition, copyright 1888. J. M. W. Jones Stationery & Printing Co. Digitised by EUVS Vintage Cocktail Books.
https://euvs-vintage-cocktail-books.cld.bz/1888-Bartender-s-Manual-by-Theodore-Proulx-Revised-Edition

[5] Robert Simonson, PUNCH. Who Are You, Theodore Proulx? 18 March 2019.
https://punchdrink.com/articles/who-are-you-theodore-proulx-bartender-old-fashioned-recipe/

[6] George J. Kappeler. Modern American Drinks. 1895. Project Gutenberg transcription.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/61065/61065-h/61065-h.htm

[8] Robert Vermeire. Cocktails: How to Mix Them. 1922. Transcription by George Sinclair.
https://www.vintagefrenchcopper.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Cocktails_how_to_mix_them_Vermeire_1922.pdf

[9] Chanticleer Society. Old Fashioned. Undated.
https://www.chanticleersociety.org/index.php?title=Old_Fashioned

[10] Difford's Guide. History of the Old Fashioned cocktail. Undated.
https://www.diffordsguide.com/g/1198/old-fashioned-cocktail/history

[11] Difford's Guide. Old Fashioned Cocktail and Louisville's Pendennis Club. Undated.
https://www.diffordsguide.com/g/1198/old-fashioned-cocktail/pendennis-club

[12] International Bartenders Association. Old Fashioned. Undated specification.
https://iba-world.com/iba-cocktail/old-fashioned/

This desk-researched article uses the supplied verified fact sheet, distinguishing digitised recipe texts from historical claims reported by trade sources.

Last checked: November 2026