Pumpkin Spice Old Fashioned

This Pumpkin Spice Old Fashioned is a delicious fall twist on the classic whiskey cocktail! It's easy to make, tasty and perfect for anyone who loves pumpkin spice flavors. This is a great cocktail for serving at Thanksgiving dinner!

Looking for some more Thanksgiving drinks? Try out the Thanksgiving Margarita with apple cider, the festive Cranberry Whiskey Sour, or this easy Cranberry Margarita.

For some more delicious variations on the classic Old Fashioned, try out the Gingerbread Old Fashioned, the tasty Christmas Old Fashioned, or this smoky Añejo tequila Old Fashioned.

Ingredients

There are only a few ingredients you'll need! First, of course, is the whiskey. I used rye whiskey (Basil Hayden dark rye), but bourbon also works well.

For the pumpkin spice, I definitely recommend making homemade Pumpkin Spice Syrup! If you don't want to make it, Pumpkin Reàl pumpkin puree syrup or Torani Pumpkin Pie flavored sauce are both good options to buy.

Then, the bitters! I used two kinds of bitters in this drink: Angostura bitters and orange bitters. Both work really well with the flavors here and balance out the sweetness of the syrup.

Lastly, garnishes are optional, but a whole cinnamon stick and a dehydrated orange slice are easy and festive finishing touches!

Substitutions and Variations

If you don't have rye whiskey or bourbon, you can use a different oak aged spirit. Whatever you like best! Brandy, blended whiskey, dark rum or añejo tequila could all work.

If you don't have one or the other of the bitters, just use whichever one you have. Or, you can try a different flavor. Hella brand Ginger bitters would work really well, or cardamom bitters too.

Don't have the garnishes? You can always leave them out, or use something like a star anise instead. You can also use a piece of fresh orange peel -- just twist it over top of the drink before dropping it into the glass.

Want to make this into a low sugar drink? You can try using a low sugar pumpkin spice syrup (like Jordan's Skinny Mixes pumpkin spice). Or, make a batch of my Pumpkin Spice Syrup using allulose instead of brown sugar.

Equipment

To make this drink, you'll need a heavy-bottomed mixing glass for stirring the drink, plus a long bar spoon. You'll also need a strainer.

For the serving glass, a classic old fashioned glass or small tumbler are perfect.

I used a large clear ice sphere maker to get the perfect ice ball! It's optional, but a great way to serve this drink so the ice melts really slowly. You can also serve it with regular ice, or even without ice.

If you need any new bar equipment, I definitely recommend checking out A Bar Above! You can get 10% off using my discount code, LKDrinks, for their products and mixology courses too.

Instructions

Start out by adding the syrup and whiskey to your mixing glass.

Add in both the Angostura and orange bitters.

Give the everything a stir at this point to make sure the syrup is all dissolved before adding your ice.

Then fill the mixing glass with ice, and stir it for about 30 seconds.

Add your ice to the serving glass. (Note: if you're using a clear ice sphere, make sure to let it sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes to temper, so you won't get cracks when you pour in the drink.)

Then, strain the drink into the serving glass.

Add in your garnishes, and serve!

Hint: If you can, refrigerate or freeze your glass beforehand to keep everything nice and cold.

How to Make a Large Batch

This is such a great drink for batching -- that is, making many drinks in advance! You can use the calculator in the recipe below to change the number of servings.

Note: One easy trick you can use is to use cups instead of ounces. That will make 8 servings, since there are 8 ounces in a cup.

When you're mixing up the batch, add ½ ounce of water per serving. This will make it so you don't have to stir with ice at all.

Mix everything together and store it in a glass container in the fridge. You can make it up to a week in advance! When you're ready to serve, measure 3 ounces of the mixed batch per cocktail into your serving glass. Cheers!