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Notes -
Old fashioned - default specs - any crap bourbon like jim beam white label, orange bitters and the syrup used is the syrup from the 1886 pemberton coke recipe.
Basil smash - basil extract, gin, syrup, lemon juice
The orange peel garnish actually seems to make a difference to an Old Fashioned for me, but I'm too lazy to keep fresh oranges on hand and carve peels for cocktails, so I've recently got a jar of candied orange peels for the purpose, and that seems to add 50% of the value for 5% of the work.
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Swapping out Pedro Ximenez Sherry for the simple syrup is one of the greatest small changes you can make to a classic cocktail.
It’s crazy sweet but figgy and date-y.
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