Remarkable cocktails require exceptional ingredients. This is especially true for traditional, spirit-forward ones like the Old Fashioned, which blends whiskey, bitters, and sugar to create a full-bodied flavor that’s meant to be sipped and savored.
Considered one of the most important cocktails of all time by bartenders and historians alike, the Old Fashioned traces its roots to the original 19th-century definition of the word “cocktail.” This mixture of base spirit, bitters, and sugar became wildly popular, prompting bartenders to create new versions with varied ingredients. Eventually, customers who preferred the original recipe made with whiskey were requesting that the cocktail be made “the old-fashioned way.” Over time, the name became official and while the basic recipe has remained, the ingredients and spirits used for it have evolved.
As whiskeys became more cultivated, bourbon became the preferred base spirit for Old Fashioned recipes, and discerning customers typically order theirs by name brand. Elijah Craig is one of the most requested bourbons — for Old Fashioneds and for sipping neat. It’s named after Reverend Elijah Craig, who was renowned for his skill as a distiller and for his commitment to innovation. In 1789, he became the first distiller to age his whiskey in new charred oak barrels — etching his name into history as the “Father of Bourbon”.
Elijah Craig has embraced one of the world’s oldest cocktails as its signature sipper, and now hosts Elijah Craig Old Fashioned Week® every October as the ultimate celebration of a drink so beloved that
