The Romantic Twist To Upgrade Any Old Fashioned

Cocktail aficionado or not, it's likely you've heard of the old fashioned, widely considered one of the oldest documented American cocktails. An old fashioned is a simple cocktail easy to perfect; at its core, it's just bourbon, sugar, and bitters, gently stirred around a large ice cube. The straightforward base is easy to riff on, the bourbon an easy pairing for almost any syrup, bitter, or garnish. It doesn't stop there, though — the bourbon can be swapped for other spirits, too. Some bartenders insist on a strong, spicy rye, while others suggest something a little less common: brandy.

If you live in Wisconsin, you might not consider brandy an unusual spirit for an old fashioned at all, being that the state's official cocktail is made with the sweet brown liquor. Recipe developer Michelle McGlinn is no stranger to the Wisconsin old fashioned, having lived in the state for several years enjoying the sweet, fizzy (yes, fizzy) taste of the state's old fashioned riff. Her chocolate-covered cherry brandy old fashioned recipe is inspired by the Wisconsin old fashioned, a muddled amalgamation of cherries, oranges, and sugar under a generous helping of brandy and Sprite. Instead of muddling the fruits, McGlinn makes the cherries into a lusciously sweet syrup that blends smoothly into the brandy and chocolate bitters and complements the caramel flavor of the orange brûlée. The result is a decadent cocktail meant to be enjoyed after dinner when you have just a little bit of room left for a chocolatey liquid dessert.

To get started with the syrup, you'll just need fresh cherries, water, and granulated sugar. With the syrup made, you'll just need to grab a good brandy, chocolate bitters (we like Fee Brothers' aztec chocolate bitters), a slice of orange and some brown sugar. If you don't have brown, you can brülée with any sugar — even a sugar packet will do.

Add the cherries, water, and sugar to a saucepan over medium heat.

Bring to a simmer and stir to dissolve the sugar. Lower the heat to medium low and simmer until cherries are broken down, about 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat and let cool for 5 to 10 minutes.

Once cooled, strain the cherry syrup into a jar.

To prepare the cocktail, first brûlée the orange. Place orange slice on a fire-proof surface and sprinkle across the top with brown sugar.

Use a torch to caramelize the sugars. Do not burn.

Fill a glass with ice.

Add the simple syrup, brandy, and bitters and stir gently to combine.

Top with the brûléed orange to serve.

Syrups elevate a cocktail to professional levels, though the truth is, they're pretty easy to make and add flavor to. As long as you have a few extra minutes and a stove (though you can make simple syrup without heat too), you can make any cocktail taste unique. Besides an old fashioned, cherry simple syrup works well with the gin and champagne in a French 75, and also perfectly sweetens a spicy Moscow mule. You can also use it for Shirley Temples in place of grenadine, or simply splash it into a vodka soda for something replicating a black cherry hard seltzer.

Of course, there are many ways to use cherry syrup beyond cocktails, too. The syrup in this recipe is a simple 1:1 ratio, so it is a thin syrup about half the consistency of maple. This means that drizzling on pancakes might not be ideal, but it mixes into drinks easily. Add it to lemonade to make cherry lemonade, or mix it into green tea or matcha for a burst of cherry flavor. You can also use it in summery desserts like lemon bars, or brush it over fruit garnish for a shiny, cherry-colored glaze.

Brandy is a brown liquor known for being most similar to citrusy-sweet Cognac. The difference between Cognac and Brandy is not a difference at all, actually, but rather, that one is a subset of the other. Cognac is simply a specific type of brandy. If you happen to have a bottle of Cognac on the shelf, you can swap it here, though a better swap would be going in the other direction, like bourbon or rye.

While brandy is fruity and generally bright, bourbon has an earthier tone, usually with notes of caramel and vanilla. If the brandy in this chocolate covered cherry recipe is too sweet or too fruity for your tastes, you might be better off using bourbon instead. Further, if you want a contrasting flavor of sweet and spicy, swap for rye, which is stronger and sharper than bourbon. If you're totally new to brandy and want to pick up a good bottle before swapping for bourbon, try one of the 11 brandies our expert bartender recommends.