Happy weekend, everyone, and welcome back to 3-Ingredient Happy Hour, the weekly drink column featuring super simple yet delicious libations. This week was kind of hectic for various reasons, so I feel the need for something insanely streamlined, even by our standards. I want to pour, stir, and sip, and maple syrup is going to help me get there.
Unless you’re in Wisconsin (which has a very unique take on the cocktail), an Old Fashioned is usually made with a sugar cube, a few dashes of bitters, and a couple ounces of your favorite bourbon (or rye). Instead of white sugar cubes—which I don’t have anyway—we’re going to be using a tiny dollop of maple syrup. If you think about it, maple syrup is a ready-to-go cocktail sweetener that requires absolutely no prep work or boiling on your part, and has a bit more depth than the stuff made with sucrose.
Basically, you get more flavor without any extra ingredients or effort, which is what I need in an alcoholic beverage at the moment. To make it, you will need:
2 ounces bourbon
1 teaspoon maple syrup (I like that proclaims it has “robust taste”—formerly Grade B)
3-4 dashes of Angostura bitters
Add everything to a lowball and stir until the syrup is fully incorporated into the whiskey. Add a big ol’ cube of ice, and stir some more until your beverage is very well chilled. Drink it and relax into the weekend.