The Demerara Rum Old Fashioned swaps whiskey for aged Demerara rum and sugar for demerara syrup. A rum and a sugar that share a name — and a molasses heart — make a drink of unusual unity: dark, rounded, and deeply warming.
Two kinds of molasses, pulling in the same direction.
Rum as the Base
The Old Fashioned template — spirit, sugar, bitters — was never the exclusive property of whiskey. Aged rum slots in naturally; a rich Demerara rum, with its dark fruit and molasses depth, makes a drink every bit as serious as the rye original.
Demerara, Twice Over
The drink's quiet trick is that the rum and the sugar share an origin. Demerara rum and demerara sugar both carry a deep, caramelised molasses character — using them together makes a remarkably unified drink, where the sweetener simply extends the spirit.
On the Rum
Reach for a properly aged Demerara rum — El Dorado's 12-year is the textbook bottle, full of dark fruit, oak, and molasses. A dash of orange bitters alongside the Angostura lifts the drink and keeps its richness from turning heavy.
The Old Fashioned Family
The original cocktail — spirit, sugar, and bitters over ice, with an orange peel.
- 2 ozBourbon or rye
- 1 cubeSugar
- 2 dashesAngostura bitters
Rye sweetened with maple, deepened with black walnut bitters — earthy and autumnal.
- 2 ozRye whiskey
- 1 tspMaple syrup
- 2 dashesBlack walnut bitters
Phil Ward's craft landmark — a split of tequila and mezcal for the whiskey.
- 1 1/2 ozReposado tequila
- 1/2 ozMezcal
- 1 tspAgave syrup
The Midwest's Old Fashioned — brandy, muddled orange and cherry, and a soda top ordered sweet, sour, or press.
- 2 ozBrandy
- 1 cubeSugar
- MuddleOrange & cherry
Ward's pale, floral Old Fashioned — gin, St-Germain, and orange bitters, with a grapefruit twist.
- 2 ozPlymouth gin
- 1/2 ozSt-Germain
- 2 dashesOrange bitters
Rye and bonded applejack in equal parts — the Old Fashioned rebuilt out of American spirits.
- 1 ozRye whiskey
- 1 ozBonded applejack
- 1/4 ozRich demerara syrup
A carajillo in Old Fashioned form — coffee liqueur and Licor 43 over cognac and rye.
- 1 ozCognac
- 1 ozRye whiskey
- 1/4 ozLicor 43
The same drink with its collar turned up — a teaspoon of maraschino and a dash of absinthe.
- 2 ozRye whiskey
- 1 tspMaraschino liqueur
- 1 dashAbsinthe
Bourbon washed with rendered bacon fat, maple for the sugar — the drink that made fat-washing ordinary.
- 2 ozBacon-fat-washed bourbon
- 1/4 ozMaple syrup
- 2 dashesAngostura bitters