The recipe
- ½ tbspWhite sugar
- 1 tbspWater
- 2 ozWhiskey60 ml
- 2 sprigsMint
How to make it
- 1In a small glass, press the mint gently with the sugar and water.
- 2Fill two-thirds with shaved ice.
- 3Add the whiskey and stir.
Variations: The best-known modern version, Dale DeGroff’s, muddles half a lemon with the mint and syrup and shakes it with 2 oz bourbon.
Thomas measures a wine-glass of whiskey; the numbers take it as 2 oz.
The ratio
1 : 1½ : 6
In parts, a Whiskey Smash is 1 sugar, 1½ water and 6 whiskey. Change one part and you have a cousin; the closest are below.
Built the same way
Head to head
More Old Fashioneds & Duos
- Art of Choke — White rum and Cynar with a little green Chartreuse, stirred with mint: bittersweet, herbal and cool.
- Benton’s Old Fashioned — Bourbon washed with smoky bacon fat, sweetened with maple syrup and seasoned with bitters. Breakfast in an Old Fashioned glass.
- Black Russian — Vodka and coffee liqueur over ice. Two ingredients, sweet and strong.
- Brandy Old Fashioned — The Wisconsin supper-club Old Fashioned: brandy over muddled orange, cherry, sugar and bitters, topped with lemon-lime soda.
- French Connection — Cognac and amaretto over ice: warm, nutty and sweet.
- Godfather — Scotch and amaretto stirred over ice: a smoky-sweet duo named for the 1972 film.