Behind the Bar: The Double Barrel

I’m JP, Brand Director here at Gramovox. As a fan of timeless style, I appreciate classic sports cars, good design, and a strong cocktail—my favorite being the Old Fashioned. For this installment of our Behind the Bar series, I’m sharing a variation of this classic drink that I call the Double Barrel.

The Old Fashioned has been around since the early 1800s, and was featured as one of the six elemental cocktails in The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, David A. Embury’s classic 1948 cocktail guide. Its composition has been endlessly appraised and revamped over the years, but it has remained a staple drink–and practically a food group in Don Draper’s diet.

The Double Barrel was created when I found myself low on resources, and it has proved to be a nice bare-bones alternative. I usually mix a couple fingers of bourbon, simple syrup, and a dash of bitters together and top it off with a cherry and orange peel.

When it comes to bourbon, Bulleit is pretty great. It’s smooth and has a rich, spicy finish that makes for a bold drink. The Double Barrel combines three ounces of Bulleit with maple syrup, orange bitters, and orange zest.

Finding the right proportions is key, and below is the formula I’ve perfected.

Ingredients

3 ounces Bulleit Bourbon

½ ounce maple syrup

2 dashes orange bitters

1 orange strip

1 Large cube / sphere of ice (optional)

Water (to taste, if necessary)

Serve it ‘up’ or on the rocks and pair it with some soul, rock, or blues. To quote Mark Twain, “Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whiskey is barely enough.”