Best Places to Get an Old Fashioned Cocktail in 47 Cities According to Primer Readers

No matter where you find yourself, you can have a great drink in a place with a great vibe. This classic whiskey cocktail is simple–yet tricky to get right. So I asked the Primer community to nominate their city’s best spot.

By Andrew Snavely

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Everyone has their travel routines. Some like to find a park or cafe and people-watch. Others seek out the best shopping, restaurants, or museums.

Me? I like to scout out a local cocktail bar and try their version of my favorite drink: the old fashioned. And I’ve found that how a bartender makes an old fashioned is a litmus test of any alcohol-slinging establishment.

See, an old fashioned is a bartender’s staple: just whiskey, sugar, ice, bitters, and an orange peel. (I prefer the cherry and orange wheel-free version that dates back before Prohibition.) It’s kind of like the drink version of a burger or a taco–beautifully simple, and therefore difficult to execute perfectly.

Actually, it’s like a minimalist Getup–the fewer layers and elements you have, the more each individual piece matters. And if the balance isn’t just right, the whole effect gets thrown off.

Proven by my years long home-bar frustrations, it’s all too easy to make an unbalanced old fashioned, as I’ve had ones that are watery. Or full of radioactive red cherries. Too boozy, or too sugary. Served with crushed ice, or topped with soda water. Or all of the above.

Now, I have particular tastes, but I wouldn’t call myself a purist. Every bartender has their way of making an old fashioned, and even riffing on the recipe without utterly changing it. Different bitters, adding a little smoke–there’s room for variety. Again, it's more about that balance of whiskey, sweet, and herbal spice.

But when I'm traveling, it's not just about the cocktail, it's also about the ambiance. It doesn't have to be a bougie mixology place or or an old dive with a masterful bartender. What matters the most is that it has a great mood, whatever that is, with good people, that helps me feel like I'm experiencing a new city doing something that I also love doing.

The frustration when traveling is, if you only have time to schlep to one cocktail spot, there’s nothing worse than being disappointed. Bad drinks or bad vibes. That’s why I recently put a call out on Primer’s Instagram Stories asking for where your favorite old fashioned is in your town. It’s a fantastic list, full of local watering holes and fancy cocktail spots.

Have your own favorite? Keep the list going in the comments!

Here are the bars from our first round of recommendations:

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Ashburn, Virginia

Sense of Thai St

20413 Exchange St., Ashburn VA 20147

The Best Places to Get an Old Fashioned in 47 Cities According to Primer Readers

Ashburn, Virginia

Sense of Thai St

Atlanta, Georgia

Red Phone Booth

Austin, Texas

Whisler's

Baltimore, Maryland

Bookmakers Cocktail Club

Bath, United Kingdom

The Botanist Bath

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Hayride Scandal

Bratislava, Slovakia

Old Fashioned Bar

Buffalo, New York

Lucky Day Whiskey Bar

Chapel Hill, North Carolina

The Crunkleton

Chicago, Illinois

Best Intentions

Cincinnati, Ohio

Sundry and Vice

Cleveland, Ohio

The Spotted Owl

Columbus, Ohio

Service Bar

Dallas, Texas

Jettison

Twilite Lounge

Dayton, Ohio

The Century Bar

Denver, Colorado

Green Russell

The Cruise Room at The Oxford Hotel

Detroit, Michigan

The Detroit Club

Dusseldorf, Germany

LiQ Bar

Houston, Texas

Anvil Bar & Refuge

Kansas City, Missouri

Julep Cocktail Club

The Monarch Cocktail Bar & Lounge

Los Angeles, California

The Normandie Club

The Varnish

Seven Grand

neat.

Louisville, Kentucky

Mr. Lee's

Lola at Butchertown Grocery

Madison, Wisconsin

The Old Fashioned Tavern & Restaurant

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Boone & Crockett

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Hewing Hotel

Spoon & Stable

Nashville, Tennessee

Pinewood Social

New York City, New York

Angel's Share

Seville, Spain

La Cocina De Mi Suegra

Orlando, Florida

Hanson's Shoe Repair

Pensacola, Florida

Old Hickory Whiskey Bar

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Fishtown Tavern

Charlie was a sinner.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Butcher and the Rye

Portland, Oregon

Clyde Common

Multnomah Whiskey Library

Providence, Rhode Island

The Eddy

Raleigh, North Carolina