10 whiskey cocktails: from Old Fashioned to Penicillin
Content 18+. Excessive alcohol consumption is harmful to your health.
Updated
Behind the bar, you quickly realize one thing: people who say they "don't like whiskey" have just been drinking it wrong. Warm, from a bad bottle, in one gulp. Then you serve them a Whiskey Sour with a frothy egg white cap — and they silently order a second. Whiskey in cocktails reveals itself differently than when sipped neat: lemon pulls caramel from bourbon, vermouth brings out spices, and honey with ginger turns smoky Scotch into something that New York bars are still fighting over in rankings.
Mixing whiskey cocktails at home is easier than it seems. Half of the recipes in this collection don’t even require a shaker — just a glass, a spoon, and decent ice. Big, from pure water, not the murky crumbs from the freezer that melt in a minute and turn the drink into a compote.
I’ve gathered ten tried-and-true recipes from the catalog at 24cocktails.com — from things that are a century and a half old to modern classics. Each one includes the ingredients, steps, and one detail that you usually only learn after a dozen botched attempts.
1. Old Fashioned
One of the oldest cocktails around — essentially, bourbon with bitters and sugar, which is to say the formula for a "cocktail" in its purest form. This is a drink without fuss: it’s sipped slowly, during conversation, and it doesn’t try to hide the whiskey — it highlights it. If you want to understand what your bourbon is really like, make an Old Fashioned out of it. The strength is about 24%, and it takes about three minutes to prepare.
Ingredients
- Bourbon — 60 ml
- Simple syrup — 10 ml
- Angostura bitters — 2-3 dashes
How to prepare
- In an old fashioned glass, place a large ice cube.
- Add the simple syrup and bitters.
- Pour in the bourbon.
- Gently stir with a bar spoon for 20–30 seconds.
- Express the oil from the orange peel over the glass, garnish with the peel and a cocktail cherry.
Tip: don’t skimp on the ice — you need one large cube, not a handful of small. Small ice melts quickly, and in five minutes instead of a cocktail, you’ll have diluted bourbon. And stir with the spoon for a solid 20–30 seconds: dilution here is part of the recipe, not a side effect.
2. Manhattan
A classic based on bourbon with sweet vermouth and bitters — a perfectly balanced thing for those who like strong drinks without compromise. The Manhattan is an evening cocktail in its purest form: dark, silky, with a spicy vermouth depth. Ordering it at the bar is like showing up in a nice suit: it always works.
Ingredients
- Sweet vermouth — 22.5 ml (3/4 oz)
- Bourbon — 75 ml (2 1/2 oz)
- Angostura bitters — 1 dash
- Ice — 2–3 cubes
- Maraschino cherry — 1 piece
- Orange peel — 1 twist
How to make it
- Fill a mixing glass with ice.
- Add bourbon and sweet vermouth.
- Add a dash of Angostura.
- Stir with a bar spoon until chilled.
- Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
- Garnish with a maraschino cherry and an orange peel twist, serve immediately.
Advice: Manhattans are stirred, not shaken — shaking it makes it cloudy and loses its velvety texture. And keep your vermouth in the fridge after opening: oxidized vermouth is the most common reason for a 'not quite right' Manhattan.
3. Whiskey Sour
A classic sour cocktail with whiskey and the main 'converter' of skeptics: the acidity of lemon and the soft sweetness of syrup cut through the spirit's sharpness, and the egg white gives that dense foam that everyone loves to photograph. It's suitable almost everywhere — from a Friday night at home to an aperitif before dinner. The strength is moderate, around 17%.
Ingredients
- Bourbon — 50 ml
- Lemon juice — 25 ml
- Simple syrup — 15 ml
- Egg white — 1 white (optional)
How to prepare
- Do a dry shake (without ice) with the egg white — 10 seconds.
- Add ice and shake for another 15 seconds.
- Strain into an old fashioned glass with fresh ice.
- Garnish with a slice of orange and a cherry.
Tip: the dry shake is not just a formality. The egg white whips into a foam only without ice; if you throw in the ice right away, the foam will turn liquid and settle in a minute. Juice — only freshly squeezed: bottled lemon juice kills a sour more reliably than bad whiskey.
4. Boston Sour
A refreshing whiskey cocktail with lemon juice and egg white — essentially, the brother of the Whiskey Sour, where the egg white is no longer an option but a mandatory part of the recipe. It’s what creates the velvety texture that people love about this drink. A good choice when you want a fancier sour — with a thick creamy head that holds the garnish.
Ingredients
- Blended whiskey — 60 ml (2 oz)
- Lemon juice — juice of 1/2 lemon
- Powdered sugar — 1 tsp.
- Egg white — 1 pc.
- Lemon slice — 1 (for garnish)
- Cherry — 1 pc. (for garnish)
How to prepare
- In a shaker, mix lemon juice, powdered sugar, whiskey, and egg white.
- Add crushed ice.
- Shake well.
- Strain into a whiskey sour glass.
- Garnish with a lemon slice and a cherry.
Tip: Shake longer and more aggressively than usual — the egg white needs energy to turn into foam, not a murky film. Use the freshest and coldest egg you can find: its white is denser and whips up noticeably better.
5. Sazerac
A classic cocktail with a rich flavor, where bourbon meets aromatic bitters and an anise rinse of the glass. The Sazerac is a drink with character: you catch the anise aroma even before the first sip, and the Peychaud's bitters give it a recognizable spicy profile. It's a choice for an evening when an Old Fashioned already seems too obvious.
Ingredients
- Ricard (anise aperitif) — 1 tsp (for rinsing the glass)
- Fine sugar — 1/2 tsp
- Peychaud's bitters — 2 dashes
- Water — 1 tsp
- Bourbon — 60 ml (2 oz)
- Lemon peel — 1 twist
How to make
- Chill an old-fashioned glass and rinse it with absinthe.
- Add crushed ice to the glass and set it aside.
- In a shaker, mix the remaining ingredients with ice.
- Dump the ice and excess absinthe from the prepared glass.
- Strain the cocktail into the glass.
- Garnish with a lemon twist.
Tip: You need just enough anise-flavored spirit to coat the walls of the glass—pour out the excess without mercy. If you overdo it, the anise will overpower the bourbon and bitters, and you'll end up with a completely different drink. Serve it without ice: the glass is cold, the cocktail is chilled, that's enough.
6. Boulevardier
A cocktail with bourbon, Campari, and sweet vermouth — that is, a Negroni where gin has made way for whiskey. And it changes everything: the bitterness of Campari melds with the caramel sweetness of bourbon, making the drink warmer and rounder than its Italian relative. The perfect aperitif for the cold season.
Ingredients
- Bourbon — 45 ml (1 1/2 oz)
- Campari — 30 ml (1 oz)
- Sweet vermouth (for example, Antica Formula) — 30 ml (1 oz)
How to make
- Mix the ingredients over ice and strain.
- Garnish as you like: with an orange slice, a lemon twist, or a cherry.
Tip: pay attention to the ratio — unlike the Negroni with its strict 1:1:1, here there’s more bourbon than Campari and vermouth. This isn’t a mistake, but the essence of the recipe: the whiskey should lead. Stir in a glass with ice until well chilled, taking your time.
7. Mint Julep
A refreshing bourbon-based cocktail with a bright mint flavor — a Southern American classic and the official drink of the Kentucky Derby. The julep is all about the heat: a mountain of crushed ice, a glass so cold it burns, and mint that you can smell before you taste the whiskey. Strong, but deceptively easy to drink.
Ingredients
- Fresh mint — 4 sprigs
- Bourbon — 75 ml (2 1/2 oz)
- Powdered sugar — 1 tsp
- Water — 2 tsp
How to make
- In a Collins glass, gently muddle the mint with the sugar and water.
- Fill the glass with crushed ice.
- Add the bourbon.
- Stir well — until frost forms on the glass.
- Garnish with a sprig of mint.
Tip: Gently bruise the mint, don’t mash it into a paste — torn leaves release the bitterness of chlorophyll, and we only want the essential oils. And stir until there’s frost on the walls: this isn’t a photo effect, but a sign that the drink has reached the right temperature.
8. Irish Coffee
A warming drink that combines strong coffee, Irish whiskey, and whipped cream. It’s more of a ritual than a cocktail: hot coffee is sipped through a cold creamy cap, and that contrast is where the magic lies. The best moment for it is a chilly evening when you come in from the cold, thoroughly chilled to the bone. The strength is modest, around 5%.
Ingredients
- Irish whiskey — 45 ml (1 1/2 oz)
- Coffee — 240 ml
- Sugar — 1 tsp.
- Whipped cream — 1 tbsp.
How to make
- Heat the coffee, whiskey, and sugar in a saucepan, but don't let it boil.
- Pour the mixture into an Irish coffee glass.
- Top with whipped cream.
- Serve hot.
Tip: whip the cream lightly — to the point of 'thick but still pourable,' and spoon it over the back of a spoon so it layers instead of sinking. Drink through the cream without stirring: if you stir, you'll just end up with coffee with milk and whiskey.
9. Hot Toddy
A warming cocktail based on whiskey with honey and lemon — just the thing to make when it's below zero outside and you want to feel warm inside. Toddy has served for centuries as a 'home remedy' for winter blues; we won't attribute any healing properties to it, but it does warm you up honestly. The recipe is for two glasses — and that's right: you rarely drink a toddy alone.
Ingredients
- Whiskey — 50 ml
- Honey — 15 ml
- Cinnamon — 1 stick
- Lemon juice — juice of 1/2 lemon (to taste)
- Cloves — 2 pcs.
How to make it
- Shake the whiskey and honey together and divide between two heat-resistant glasses.
- In each glass, add half a stick of cinnamon, then pour in 200 ml of boiling water.
- Add a bit of lemon juice, taste it — and adjust the acidity to your liking.
- Garnish each glass with a slice of lemon and a clove and serve immediately.
Tip: mix the whiskey with the honey before pouring in the boiling water — honey doesn’t dissolve well in hot water and settles at the bottom. And use water that’s just shy of boiling: full-on boiling water knocks all the aroma out of the whiskey.
10. Penicillin
A cocktail with a smoky flavor, combining whiskey, lemon juice, and honey syrup with ginger. It's a modern classic: invented in a New York bar in the 2000s, Penicillin has made its way onto the menus of the best bars in the world over the past twenty years. Its signature trick is the 'float': a couple of spoonfuls of smoky single malt Scotch float on top, and each sip starts with smoke and ends with honey and ginger.
Ingredients
- Blended Scotch — 60 ml (2 oz)
- Lemon juice — 22.5 ml (3/4 oz)
- Honey syrup — 10 ml (2 tsp)
- Ginger syrup — 10 ml (2 tsp)
- Smoky single malt Scotch (Islay) — 7 ml (1/4 oz)
How to make
- In a shaker, mix blended Scotch, lemon juice, honey syrup, and ginger syrup with ice.
- Shake well.
- Strain into a chilled old-fashioned glass with a large ice cube.
- Top with smoky Scotch.
- Garnish with candied ginger.
Tip: Don’t mix in the smoky Scotch — gently pour it over the back of a bar spoon so it remains as the top layer. That’s the whole idea: your nose catches the peaty smoke, while your mouth gets honey, lemon, and ginger. For the float, look for a peaty single malt whisky — the smokier, the better.
Ten recipes — ten different personalities of one drink: from the meditative Old Fashioned to the smoky Penicillin. Start with what you already have on the shelf: for half the list, bourbon, lemon, and sugar will do. And then you’ll get hooked — tested on dozens of guests.
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