Add Salt to Your Whiskey for the Best Old Fashioned Cocktail

When it comes to the end of a long week, or just a big day, how good is a cocktail? My absolute favourite is an Old Fashioned. Not too sweet, and makes me feel just a tad fancy, especially in a classy glass.

Now I’m pretty new to making cocktails myself – give it a crack and you’ll soon realise why bars charge 20 bucks a pop for them. But an Old Fashioned is fairly easy. The perfect place to start your celebration.

It’s basically whiskey, bitters and orange peel. But at a recent event for Westward Whiskey (yes, tough gig I’ve got, I know), I was handed an Old Fashioned that blew my mind. It had one extra ingredient: rock salt.

(Full disclosure: I usually avoid salt at all costs, but this was a special occasion. A rare treat.)

The tiny pinch of rock salt completely changed the drink. It was like it brought all the flavours in the glass to a whole new level.

It also made the cocktail incredibly moreish and I may have guzzled it more quickly than was polite. So be warned.

Here’s how to make an Old Fashioned with a salty twist

Ingredients

60mL Westward American Single Malt Whiskey

5mL raw liquid honey

A pinch of Olsson’s sea salt flakes

Half a dropper of Fee Brothers Old Fashion Aromatic Bitters

Orange peel to garnish

Method

Pour the whiskey, honey, sea salt and bitters into a mixing glass and stir. The put it all into a fancy Old Fashioned rocks glass on a large cube (it’s the fancy glass that makes it extra delicious, if you ask me). Garnish with a strip of orange peel (if that’s not your thing, you can use a cherry to garnish instead).

That’s it. So simple yet so impressive, and that’s what we love. Cheers!