Peach Old Fashioned: A Fruity Twist on an Old Classic

The old fashioned has long been my favorite craft cocktail. It’s delicious, puts the whisky on the forefront of the drink, and is about as simple as it gets when it comes to a classic cocktail.

And as a home bartender, one of my favorite things about the old fashioned is just how versatile it is. Once you learn a few basic ratios, it’s really easy to put a unique spin on this fantastic drink.

One of my favorite examples of this, is a way to make the old fashioned just a little bit more friendly to the person who finds a typical old fashioned to be a bit too harsh and boozy.

That’s not to say this peach old fashioned isn’t boozy, it’s an old fashioned! But it tames the fire just a little bit, while amping up the sweetness.

I’ve found that with an old fashioned in particular you can really make them your own by adding half an ounce of something else to mix it up.

I’ve tried this a number of different ways using both bourbon and rye, and using demerara simple syrup vs. no simple syrup.

Even with the sweetness of the peach liqueur, without the simple syrup it still smacks you in the face a bit more than you’d like.

So by adding a 1/4 ounce of demerara you’re still getting just enough sweetness to make it palatable, and also toning down the fire of the whiskey a bit.

You can make this with either bourbon or rye, they both taste good, but I found rye to add a slightly more earthy element that helps balance the sweetness of the peach.

And if this still feels like it’s going to be too boozy for your pallet, then try this whiskey sour recipe which is a little more friendly to whiskey newbies.

How to Make a Peach Old Fashioned

• 2 dashes Angostura Bitters
• 2 Dashes Orange Bitters or Orinoco Bitters (OPTIONAL)
• 1/4 oz Demerara Syrup
• 2 oz Knob Creek Rye (Any mid range rye will do)
• .5 oz Giffard Creme de Peche

Combine all ingredients over ice in a mixing glass and stir until chilled.

Pour over a large cube, and garnish with an orange peel or dehydrated peach.

A Fun Addition to the Peach Old Fashioned

So the whole reason I bought Giffard Creme de Peche in the first place was to make a Fish House Punch out of the Dead Rabbit Cocktail Book. 

It’s a fantastic recipe, so I’ll do a post on that soon – but that punch uses a while 1/4 ounce of Orinoco Bitters. These bitters which the team at the Dead Rabbit helped create are fantastic. And so I figured since they work so well in that recipe with Peach, maybe they’d work in this old fashioned?

Sure enough? They’re awesome. They aren’t super cheap, and aren’t generally something people have lying around, so no sweat if you don’t have them, but if you’re up for a fun addition, try them in place of the orange bitters.

Our Other Old Fashioned Recipes

• How to Make an Old Fashioned (That Doesn’t Suck) – Looking for a fantastic straight forward old fashioned recipe? Look no further.
• The Dockside: A Wonderful Rum Old Fashioned – I’ve been drinking this more than just about anything else right now.
• The Smoking Bird: An Unexpected Mezcal Old Fashioned – This mezcal old fashioned has ratios more similar to a negroni, but it drinks more like an old fashioned.