Cocktailarium Logo Icon
Cocktailarium

Improved Whiskey Cocktail

Category: Old FashionedMood: Sipper

Featured in 1887's edition of Jerry Thomas Bartenders Guide

Lowball

Ingredients

  • 60ml rye or bourbon whiskey
  • 2.5ml maraschino liqueur
  • 7.5ml simple syrup
  • 1 dash absinthe
  • 1 dash Angostura bitters
  • 1 dash Peychaud's bitters
No. of Servings:
1

Garnish

Lemon twist

Instructions

  1. Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with ice.

  2. Stir until chilled.

  3. Strain into a rocks glass with ice.

  4. Twist a lemon peel over the drink to express the essential oils and garnish with the twist.

Hints

  1. The Improved Cocktail is a template that can be applied to other spirits. Try it with brandy!

  2. If you have access to gomme syrup, consider using it instead of simple syrup in order to improve on the texture of this cocktail.

Your Notes

0 / 500
Rate This Cocktail

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @cocktailarium.app on Instagram and add hashtag #cocktailarium

Trivia

  1. In the late 1800s bartenders in the US started getting access to European ingredients such as maraschino liqueur, absinthe and curaçao. They used these ingredients to elevate popular cocktails of the time.

  2. In this context “Improved” doesn’t mean it is necessarily better, it’s a reference to the new complexities and nuance that bartenders could achieve with these newfound ingredients.

  3. The Old Fashioned most likely got its name after the Improved Cocktail. You ordered an “old fashioned” style drink if you didn’t want one with these newer ingredients.

  4. The Improved Whiskey Cocktail, along with the Improved Brandy Cocktail and Improved Gin Cocktail were all featured for the first time in the 1887 edition of Jerry Thomas Bartender Guide.

Tags

1800sOld FashionedWhisk(e)yRye whiskeyBourbonMaraschino liqueurSimple syrupAbsintheAngostura bittersPeychaud's bitters

Related Cocktails

This is a list of cocktails that are related to the Improved Whiskey Cocktail. They may be variations or recipes that precede it. Give them a try!