Maple Old Fashioned
A Maple Old Fashioned is 60ml of bourbon, 10ml of dark maple syrup and two dashes of Angostura bitters, stirred with ice for 20 to 30 seconds and strained over one large cube in a rocks glass, with an expressed orange twist. About 2.5 UK units. It is the Old Fashioned with maple syrup in place of the sugar cube, and the bitters and orange kept as they are. We found no creator named for it, and no source we read dates its first appearance. Maple is sweeter by volume than one-to-one sugar syrup, so 10ml is enough against 60ml of bourbon. The darker grades carry a toasted, caramel side that meets the vanilla and oak in the whiskey; pancake syrup, mostly flavoured sugar syrup, does not.
Glassware: Rocks Glass
Garnish: Orange twist and Maraschino cherry (optional)
Ingredients
60ml
Bourbon at 40% ABV with some caramel and vanilla to it. A high-rye bottle works and makes a drier, spicier drink.
10ml
Pure maple syrup from the darker grades, for its toasted flavour. Measure it level; it is sweeter than sugar syrup.
2 dashes
The same two dashes the Old Fashioned takes. They keep the maple from tasting like dessert.
Instructions
Add the bourbon, maple syrup and bitters to a mixing glass.
Fill with cubed ice and stir for 20 to 30 seconds.
Strain into a rocks glass over one large cube.
Express an orange twist over the drink and drop it in.
Our version
Our Old Fashioned’s two dashes of Angostura and orange twist, with 10ml of dark maple syrup in place of the sugar cube and 60ml of bourbon. Stirred and strained, because maple is too thick to dissolve over a single cube.
Source: our own specification. Last checked 10 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Measure the maple level. It is thick and sweet, and 15ml where 10ml belongs turns the drink sticky. If you want it sweeter, add a barspoon at a time and taste. Stir it in a mixing glass, not over the cube. Maple is too thick to dissolve well in a cold glass, so 20 to 30 seconds of stirring with plenty of ice mixes it in before the drink is strained onto the large cube. Express the orange twist properly, skin side down over the glass. The oil lifts a drink that is otherwise all low notes: oak, toast and caramel.
Behind the Maple Old Fashioned
Flavour Profile
One Swap
The Old Fashioned is spirit, sugar, water and bitters, the definition of a cocktail that the Oxford Companion says a Hudson, New York, newspaper gave in 1806 (its references name The Balance and Columbian Repository of 13 May 1806): “a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters”. Change one part and the rest stays put, so whatever changes in the glass comes from that part.
This version changes the sugar. Maple replaces the cube, and the two dashes of Angostura and the orange stay. We found no one credited with the swap.
Maple and Bourbon
Maple sap is boiled down until it turns amber, which gives the syrup a toasted, caramel flavour. Bourbon picks up vanilla and caramel from new charred oak. The two meet in the middle.
The darker the syrup, the more of that toast it carries; the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s grade compendium names the golden grade delicate in taste and the dark and very dark robust and strong. Pale syrup brings mostly sweetness, and the drink tastes like an ordinary Old Fashioned made a little sweeter.
The Measure and the Stir
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s grade compendium requires Canada Grade A maple syrup to have a soluble solids content of at least 66%, so it is denser and sweeter by volume than one-to-one sugar syrup, and 10ml does the job. At 15ml the bourbon goes under.
It is also thick, which is why this drink is stirred in a mixing glass for 20 to 30 seconds and strained onto the cube, where an Old Fashioned dissolves its sugar in the glass. Stirred that long, the syrup is fully mixed and the drink is cold and lightly diluted.
Sweeteners in the Family
The Old Fashioned and three relatives, by sweetener; all measures are our own recipes
Old Fashioned
- Spirit
- 45ml bourbon or rye
- Sweetener
- One sugar cube
- Bitters
- Two dashes Angostura
Maple Old Fashioned
- Spirit
- 60ml bourbon
- Sweetener
- 10ml maple syrup
- Bitters
- Two dashes Angostura
Oaxacan Old Fashioned
- Spirit
- 45ml reposado, 15ml mezcal
- Sweetener
- 5ml agave syrup
- Bitters
- Two dashes Angostura
Gold Rush (a sour)
- Spirit
- 60ml bourbon
- Sweetener
- 22.5ml honey syrup, with 22.5ml lemon
- Bitters
- None
| Drink | Spirit | Sweetener | Bitters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old Fashioned | 45ml bourbon or rye | One sugar cube | Two dashes Angostura |
| Maple Old Fashioned | 60ml bourbon | 10ml maple syrup | Two dashes Angostura |
| Oaxacan Old Fashioned | 45ml reposado, 15ml mezcal | 5ml agave syrup | Two dashes Angostura |
| Gold Rush (a sour) | 60ml bourbon | 22.5ml honey syrup, with 22.5ml lemon | None |
How to Serve It
Over one large cube, with the twist expressed and dropped in, and a cherry if you like one. It suits the colder months and a slow evening.
The parent drink is the Old Fashioned. Bourbon with honey and lemon is a Gold Rush, and the agave cousin is the Oaxacan Old Fashioned.
Make it at home
The Spirit
Whiskey (Bourbon)Under the US standard 27 CFR 5.143, bourbon is an American whiskey whose mash is at least 51% corn, matured in fresh charred oak barrels and bottled at 40% ABV or higher, the figure our recipes use. The fresh charred wood gives it its vanilla, caramel and colour, and the corn gives a rounder, sweeter spirit than rye. It is the base of 26 of our recipes, more than any other whiskey.
Master the Techniques
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is in a Maple Old Fashioned?
How much maple syrup should I use?
Does the grade of maple syrup matter?
Bourbon or rye?
Why is it stirred and strained when an Old Fashioned is built in the glass?
How strong is a Maple Old Fashioned?
Sources.
Checked between 18 October and 19 October 2026.
- The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (David Wondrich), “Cock-Tail” (secondary source: the name and formula first appear together in print in Hudson, New York, in 1806, defined as “a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters”).
- Canadian Food Inspection Agency, “Canadian Grade Compendium: Volume 7 – Maple Syrup” (primary source: Canada Grade A maple syrup has a soluble solids content of 66% to 68.9%; colour classes Golden, Delicate Taste; Amber, Rich Taste; Dark, Robust Taste; Very Dark, Strong Taste).
- DrinkSupermarket, “Angostura Aromatic Bitters 200ml” (retailer listing: 44.7% ABV).
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Old Fashioned
The IBA’s Old Fashioned is 45ml of bourbon or rye whiskey, one sugar cube, a few dashes of Angostura bitters and a few dashes of water; we use bourbon and two dashes. The sugar and bitters are muddled in a rocks glass until the cube dissolves, then ice goes in, the bourbon goes over it and the drink is stirred for 15 to 20 seconds. Orange peel is expressed over the top. About 1.9 UK units. Only the sugar and bitters are muddled: no orange flesh, no cherry. The recipe predates the name. The Oxford Companion says that when a newspaper in Hudson, New York, defined the cocktail in 1806, it described “spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters”. The name came later in the century: the Companion has people ordering Old-Fashioneds in Chicago in 1880, as bartenders added liqueurs to the format and drinkers who wanted it plain asked for one made the old-fashioned way.
Gold Rush
A Gold Rush is 60ml bourbon, 22.5ml fresh lemon juice and 22.5ml honey syrup, made with twice as much honey as warm water. Shake it hard for 10 to 12 seconds, strain it onto a single big cube in a rocks glass and finish with a lemon twist. About 2.4 UK units. Punch credits T.J. Siegal, at Milk & Honey in New York, with the idea sometime in 2000, and VinePair dates the drink to 2001. T.J. Siegal, a friend of the owner, Sasha Petraske, ordered his usual Whiskey Sour and asked for it without the egg white and with honey syrup in place of sugar. The change stuck, and the drink became a modern standard. Honey does more than sweeten. It tastes faintly of flowers and wax, gives the drink weight that sugar syrup cannot, and sits comfortably with the vanilla and caramel in bourbon. With no egg and no bitters, the Gold Rush is plainer and heavier than a Whiskey Sour, and quicker to make.
American Trilogy
An American Trilogy is 30ml of rye whiskey and 30ml of applejack poured over a brown sugar cube muddled with two dashes of orange bitters, stirred over one large ice cube in a rocks glass for 15 to 20 seconds and finished with an orange twist. About 2.5 UK units with both spirits at 40% ABV, or about 3.1 with bonded bottles at 50%. Punch credits Richard Boccato and Michael McIlroy with it, at the New York bar Little Branch; Difford’s Guide says it was adapted from a recipe they created in 2006 at Milk & Honey, and was a staple at Little Branch by the following year. It is an Old Fashioned with the base split between two American spirits. Punch says it nods to the Diamondback, a 20th century classic of rye, applejack and yellow Chartreuse, and is emblematic of the popularity of Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy, newly available in the city in the aughts. The applejack does not make it taste of apple so much as round off the rye. The sugar cube keeps dissolving as you drink, so the first sip is drier than the last.
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 19 October 2026