How to make The Only Old Fashioned You'll Ever Need

Despite their name, Old Fashioneds will never go out of style. Except for maybe in the future when we all drink glowing blue stuff for literally all our meals. But since that's at least two years off, we asked Joaquín Símo, head honcho at NYC's Pouring Ribbons and Tales of the Cocktail 2012's Bartender of the Year, to let us in on his bar alchemy and tell you how to make the The Only Old Fashioned You'll Ever Need.

Make sure you've got the ingredients: Bourbon/rye, bitters, orange bitters, sugar syrup, ice, orange peel.
 

Begin by assembling your arsenal: bourbon or rye, bitters, orange bitters, and simple syrup (you can also just substitute a muddled sugar cube there).

Two dashes of Angostura will lay the base for working wonders.

But one type of bitters is simply not enough, so you're gonna want to add two dashes of orange bitters as well -- be smart and go with Regans', if only because the dude on the bottle has a really strong beard.

Despite what his overpowering 'meh' face might lead you to believe, Joaquín will tell you that simple syrup is a seriously important part of this equation. 1/4oz of important, specifically. He went for the demerara variety, which is basically fancy talk for "equal parts diluted brown sugar and water".

Drop in a big ol' block of ice. Or multiple regular-sized blocks of ice, if for some reason you don't have a freezer full of these.

Make way for the whiskey -- 2oz will be plenty. Most people go for either bourbon or rye when mixing this particular concoction, so our spirits guide chose Bulleit bourbon, which has a relatively high rye content. You get the best of both whiskey worlds.

Give it a nice stir, but don't go crazy. You just wanna chill this bad boy and dilute it a touch.

Finally, get a nice swath of orange peel and express the oils over your sexy beverage. Then toss it in.

And that's how you make The Only Old Fashioned You'll Ever Need.