For those who need to know how to make my old fashioned.

You see, what I do, what I’ve always done, is set a sugar cube in a glass and then introduce bitters. Set the thin orange slices in like this. Yes,you see, and the cherry, a maraschino, at its middle and wait until the sugar takes on this burnt brown stain. Then water it and muddle it until you’ve got this mixture you see and then well, yes, so ever slowly dribble whiskey down the glass. Then stir and stir and stir.

An Old Fashioned compared to a steak.

A well-made Old Fashioned is, as I’ve heard the Brooklyn bartender and writer St. John Frizzell say, the drink equivalent of taking a nice cut of steak and seasoning it with a bit of salt and pepper.  It keeps the spirit front and center, but makes it more palatable by simultaneously toning it down and enlivening it.

I’ve posted espresso and rock candy before. It’s something I’ve wanted to try, going as far as trying to make my own rock candy (epic fail). Now I see rock candy and cocktails and I’m re-inspired to try making my own rock candy again. Thinking I’ll use toothpicks and make small nuggets of rock candy for stirring into my coffee/espresso and old fashioneds.

Gourmet has a list of the best cocktails from 1941-2009. These look pretty good. I’m sensing a few new additions to the old standbys, Old Fashioneds and Rye Manhattans.

• 2 oz. Bourbon
• 1 small orange slice
• 1 tablespoon Vermont maple syrup
• 2 dashes bitters

Muddle the orange slice at the bottom of the glass, add ice, add syrup, add bourbon, and stir.

Two please: Old-Fashioneds garnished with blood oranges and homemade maraschinos.