This is so classic it seems prehistoric. The original old fashioned has no fruit at all. All it included was whiskey, sugar and bitters. That certainly was not what I was taught or served or taught to my bartenders. Who knows, maybe this is where the Sazerac was developed from.
Ingredients
2 oz Whiskey (Rye, Bourbon, what have you.)
1 Sugar Cube
3-4 dashes Angostura Bitters
Garnish
None. With so few ingredients it seems only proper to have a naked glass.
Glassware
8 oz or short old fashioned glass
Assembly
Place one large cube or sphere of ice in an old fashioned glass. Place sugar cube on bar spoon and put bitters on cube to begin dissolving it. Place spoon in shaker and add whiskey. Stir vigorously enough to get all sugar from spoon.
Suggestions
Bitters are the battle stripes of the craft cocktail world. The more your bar has the cooler you are. At Tales of the Cocktail, The Monteleone Hotel has an entire ballroom dedicated to nothing but bitters. When I was coming up there was Angostura and Peychaud and that was where the world ended. Now bars are making their own in addition to the rainbow of flavors that can be found in the market now. Have fun with some different bitters for your own twist on the New Old Fashioned Old Fashioned.