COLDBREW SNOB Good coffee. No compromise.

Recipe · 調合

The Cold Brew Old Fashioned

Two slow drinks, one glass. Stirred, strong, and better than it has any right to be.

Cold brew concentrate behaves like a cocktail ingredient: intense, low-water, built to be diluted with intention. That makes it a natural fit for the old fashioned template — spirit, sugar, bitters, stirred cold — where it plays the role of a second spirit rather than a mixer. This is an adult drink at adult strength; it's also excellent with the bourbon removed entirely, and we've included that build below.

Ingredients

  • 45 ml bourbon (rye works; pick something you'd drink neat)
  • 30 ml cold brew concentrate — homemade 1:5, or a store-bought concentrate from the reviews
  • 10 ml demerara syrup (2:1 — dissolve 100 g demerara sugar in 50 g hot water; keeps 3 weeks refrigerated)
  • 2 dashes Angostura bitters
  • 1 dash orange bitters (optional, correct)
  • 1 large ice cube, plus stirring ice
  • Orange peel

Method

  1. In a mixing glass with ice: bourbon, concentrate, syrup, both bitters.
  2. Stir 20–25 seconds. Not shaken — this drink should be silky and clear, not frothy.
  3. Strain over one large cube in a rocks glass.
  4. Express the orange peel over the surface, wipe it around the rim, drop it in.

The result drinks like an old fashioned that spent a semester abroad: the bourbon's caramel and the coffee's chocolate overlap almost exactly, the bitters bridge them, and the finish runs longer than either ingredient manages alone.

Zero-proof build

  • 75 ml cold brew concentrate
  • 15 ml demerara syrup
  • 2 dashes Angostura (contains trace alcohol; use a non-alcoholic aromatic bitters to go fully zero)
  • Same method, same big cube, same orange peel — the peel is doing more work here, so don't skip it.

This version stands on its own as an evening coffee drink, with the caveat that 75 ml of concentrate is a real caffeine decision after dinner — the caffeine guide explains why your 11 p.m. self will have opinions.

Notes

  • Concentrate strength matters. A watery ready-to-drink cold brew disappears next to bourbon. If all you have is ready-to-drink, use 45 ml and halve the syrup.
  • Demerara over simple. The molasses depth is the difference between "coffee cocktail" and "dessert."
  • One drink, then judge. It's smoother than its ingredients list, which is exactly why the recipe stops at 45 ml of bourbon.