IMOA

I wouldn't send an old fashioned back for having smaller ice cubes but basically any stirred drink served with ice I'm going to prefer a single large ice cube.

Some quick comments for the rest of the thread

I'd never buy a 'cocktail mix' and would never use anything apart from fresh squeezed juice (seriously, makes a massive difference) but I do sometimes get a bottle of sugar syrup because I can't be bothered making a big batch and bottling. We don't like our drinks sweet so a single bottle will last years because I'll typically only use half of what a recipe calls for whereas I'm dubious of whether something I make up would. And I got sick of making sugar syrup on demand when someone came over and wanted sweeter drinks.

Especially for simple, classic cocktails like old fashioned, manhatten, negroni, martini etc you really want to get good at making great examples from scratch using good quality ingredients and garnishes, a little bit of practice and care is all it takes for a great result. Because they're simple cocktails they're easy to learn and perfect but you've also got nowhere to hide so do them right and it will become something you will be known for.

Margarita - Ours is 2oz Tequila (Jimadoor is my standard margarita tequila and will sometimes use a repasado), 1oz Cointreau, 0.7-1oz freshly squeezed lime (basically to taste, I kinda know where my friends are on the scale) 2 dashes smoked chilli bitters (again, to taste, you get to know people and tweak it a bit). Shake and strain into a coupe (I typically don't double strain a margarita as the ice shards work in it and to me its a 'rustic' kind of drink). Sometimes I do the salt rim, sometimes I can't be bothered (if I'm doing lots I do, one off I don't bother)

Vermouths - While I do often have some other vermouths for specific purposes the ones I reach for the most are the Dolin's. I find they allow the other ingredients to shine rather than trying to make themselves the star and thats generally what I want. If you don't use vermouth often buy half bottles and always keep in the fridge.

Cherries - Luxardo are great but you can have some fun here, atm I'm using some rum soaked cherries which are a really great different option

Agree on the martini machismo gets a bit silly. My 'standard serve' is 4:1 gin to (dolin) vermouth with the gin, garnish and bitters (usually orange, sometimes celery, sometimes none) changing based on whether I want a savoury or balanced or bright martini. Again, get to know friends and I tweak to their taste.

gfunkdave

A mint julep is a kids' drink?

JBord

Let's see...mint, sugar...
Ok, I generalized a little bit. Maybe I should have said crushed ice is for snow cones

drift2b

Keep a bottle of simple syrup in the fridge and premix squeezed lime juice and orange juice for a quick marg

corky

Has anyone tried to make their simple syrup with Splenda or Truvia? I would appreciate any suggestions. I looked the other day and it seems there are several options for artificial sweetener and I am not sure which would work best. I think I saw one that was a mix of splenda and real sugar but I am not sure of the proportions to use when making syrup. I don't usually use the stuff so not sure if there is an after taste or one dissolves better or what.

IMOA

I’ve made sugar syrup from monk fruit based sweeteners. Quite an expensive way to do it but health wise (should be) better than sugar and for me the taste was the same. But also as mentioned if there’s sugar syrup in a cocktail we’d typically use half or a bit less than what the ‘standard’ recipe calls for.

corky

Is there a brand that you recommend and what are the proportions of sweetener to water?

IMOA

I’m in Australia so the brands will be local and I think we get it from the local store which has the almond flour and kombucha on tap where you serve yourself into paper bags because it lives in jar in the pantry which originally had kimchi. My understanding is the thing that makes monk fruit sweet is much sweeter than sugar but they ‘pad’ it out with something neutral to bring it back to about the same sweetness. When I make it into sugar syrup I just do roughly 1 to 1 (roughly because I eyeball it rather than measure it) and it seems to work ok. I guess that works for me as I don’t really follow the recipe for sugar syrup, I do it to taste/personal preference so my girlfriend and I will typically have half but for other people it might be double.

pseudoswede

A local liquor superstore that I don't really frequent had bottles of Proof Syrup available for the same price as the website (excluding promo codes, but the convenience of being right in front of me was worth the non-discount). The instructions say 1/2 oz syrup for every 2 oz whiskey/bourbon (Buffalo Trace). I barely tasted anything, so I added another 1/2 oz., and that made it way too sweet. So, the next evening, I tried 3/4 oz, and that seems to be ideal.

pseudoswede

Last year, at about 1am, I grabbed a Tip Top Old Fashioned cocktail from the fridge at the Courtyard Downtown Atlanta. It was gross.

More recently, I bought a bottle of the Bulleit pre-mixed Old Fashioned cocktail at Costco. For those that don't like it too sweet, this is a good one for you. Very subtle sweetness.

In the end, I think I found a winner with the Proof Syrup line--except I now pour a 3oz/0.75oz ratio to eek out a bit more sweetness to the cocktail I was missing with their 2/0.5 ratio (which I admit doesn't make much sense since it's technically the same proportions). Thanks to a tip from a friend (who has a very impressive bourbon collection and is also a Proof Syrup proponent), I pair it with 86 proof Old Forester. I have also bought their Honey syrup which makes a great Bee's Knees. I now see that Proof makes a mojito syrup; hopefully my local liquor store will stock that eventually.

As always, I'm looking for additional suggestions.

FriendlySkies

While at the Glass Jug in Durham, NC two weeks ago, I spotted a variety of cocktail supplies and settled upon the 'Yes Cocktail Co' orange peel and bitters mixer as well as a jar of Woodford Reserve Bourbon Cherries. Prior to this, I was simply stirring the bitters into a small amount of sugar, adding a teaspoon or so of water and then stirring with ice before pouring in the rye. I do like a somewhat sweeter Old Fashioned (I only started drinking bourbon last fall), so the above items have really turned out great for me.

ILuvParis

Koloa Rum Mai Tai and Rum Punch.

JayhawkCO

Do you not like a "traditional" Old Fashioned? 2 oz. whiskey, 0.25 oz. simple syrup, 4 dashes Angostura bitters, citrus twist? I've personally never understood the "Old Fashioned Mix" as it's just sugar and bitters and you can get those for much cheaper.

pseudoswede

Please refer to my first post...

The Proof Syrup Orange Old Fashioned is, as the name suggests, more orange-forward, which is what I like.

JayhawkCO

I see that you deemed yourself uncultured and lazy. I don't see that adding two things instead of one is a dealbreaker for either of those.

In addition to, or in lieu of, the Angostura bitters, add some orange bitters too. Shazam.