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. No one is credited with it, and when it first appeared is not recorded. 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 1806 definition of a cocktail. 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. No one is 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. Pale syrup brings mostly sweetness, and the drink tastes like an ordinary Old Fashioned made a little sweeter.
The Measure and the Stir
Maple is denser and sweeter by volume than one-to-one sugar syrup, so 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
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)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?
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Old Fashioned
An Old Fashioned is 45ml of bourbon, one sugar cube, two dashes of Angostura bitters and a few dashes of water. 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. Those are the IBA’s ingredients, which allow rye in place of bourbon. Only the sugar and bitters are muddled: no orange flesh, no cherry. The recipe predates the name. When a newspaper in Hudson, New York, defined the cocktail in 1806, it described spirits, sugar, water and bitters, a bittered sling. The name came later in the century, as bartenders added liqueurs to the format and drinkers who wanted it plain are said to have 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. It began at Milk & Honey in New York in 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%. Richard Boccato and Michael McIlroy created it at Little Branch in New York in the late 2000s. It is an Old Fashioned with the base split between two American spirits, and it nods to the Diamondback, an older drink of rye, applejack and yellow Chartreuse. It caught on as bonded Laird’s apple brandy reached New York’s bars in those years. 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 12 October 2026