An old fashioned cocktail is 2 oz of bourbon or rye, a little sweetener and 2 dashes of Angostura bitters, stirred with ice and strained over one large cube. A spoonful of orange marmalade can replace both the sugar cube and the orange peel.
What goes in a classic old fashioned cocktail?
Whiskey sweetened with sugar and seasoned with bitters, plus a splash of water. The official recipe from the International Bartenders Association soaks a sugar cube with bitters and a few dashes of plain water, muddles it until dissolved, then adds ice and 45 ml of bourbon or rye and garnishes with orange and a cocktail cherry. Paul Clarke's recipe for Serious Eats is a little bigger at 2 oz of whiskey with 2–3 dashes of bitters, sweetened by a teaspoon of superfine sugar or a cube. He stirs it in a mixing glass and strains it over fresh ice.
The drink is old in a literal sense. The first known printed definition of a "cock-tail", in an upstate New York newspaper on 13 May 1806, described spirits, sugar, water and bitters. Difford's Guide traces the name to the 1870s, when bartenders began adding liqueurs to their "improved" whiskey cocktails and traditionalists ordered theirs the old-fashioned way.
The orange came later. Difford's dates the muddled orange slice and cherry to Prohibition, possibly to hide the taste of poor bootleg whiskey.
Swapping the sugar cube for marmalade
Use 1–2 bar spoons (5–10 ml) of marmalade in place of the sugar cube, starting with one and adding more once you've tasted the drink. Part of a spoonful of marmalade is fruit and water, so it's less sweet than the same spoonful of sugar. The jar also brings acid and cooked peel, which is why it reads as orange in the glass, where sugar alone adds only sweetness. Marmalade brings the orange without a muddled slice, so the garnish becomes optional: a twist over the top adds aroma, and a fine strainer keeps shreds of peel out of the glass if you'd rather not have them.
Keep the few dashes of water from the classic, warm if you can. They loosen the marmalade before the whiskey and ice go in, so the whiskey mixes in smoothly.
The swap is well established. Country Living stirs 2 oz of bourbon, 2 dashes of bitters and ½ tablespoon of orange marmalade together in the nearly empty jam jar, then adds ice. The Scotch whisky distillery Glen Moray makes a version with its own sherry-cask whisky and a heaped teaspoon of marmalade.
Marmalade old fashioned recipe
Makes: 1 drink · Prep: 5 minutes · Total: 5 minutes
Ingredients
- 1–2 bar spoons (5–10 ml) marmalade, our Navel Orange Marmalade or Valencia
- 1 bar spoon warm water
- 2 oz (60 ml) bourbon or rye whiskey
- 2 dashes Angostura bitters
- Ice, plus 1 large cube for serving
- Orange peel for garnish (optional)
Steps
- Put the marmalade and a bar spoon of warm water in a mixing glass and stir until loose, then add the whiskey.
- Stir, without ice, until the mixture is smooth and nothing is left sitting at the bottom of the glass.
- Add the bitters.
- Fill the mixing glass with ice and stir until the outside of the glass feels cold.
- Pour through a strainer onto one large cube in a rocks glass. A fine strainer keeps the peel out.
- Squeeze the peel, skin side down, above the drink so its oils land on the surface, then drop it in or discard it.
Notes
- Why water and no ice at first: warm water loosens the marmalade, while cold marmalade leaves lumps behind. Our marmalade cocktails guide covers the build-first technique for shaken drinks too.
- The jam-jar version: stir it all straight into a jar with a spoonful left in the bottom, as Country Living does, then add ice.
- For a party: loosen the marmalade over low heat with the same volume of water and sieve off the shreds. Keep the syrup in the fridge and use it within a week. Start with ¼ oz per drink and taste.
- Classic version: replace the marmalade with a sugar cube wet with the bitters and a few drops of water, muddled until dissolved, per the IBA.
Which marmalade suits which whiskey?
Start with sweet orange. Navel gives the familiar orange of an old fashioned garnish; judges at the 2026 World Marmalade Awards gave that jar a Silver. Our Valencias are harvested in the Southern California summer, when their acidity softens; the Valencia Orange Marmalade tastes of honey and makes a rounder drink.
Rye's spice stands up to a sharper jar. Our cocktails guide suggests Meyer lemon marmalade for an unusual version, and Duncan grapefruit brings real bitterness, so go easy on the Angostura with that one. With Scotch, follow Glen Moray, which pairs the dried-fruit flavors of its sherry-cask whisky with bittersweet marmalade.
Photo by Pylyp Sukhenko on Unsplash.
