Umami Old Fashioned — An old fashioned seasoned rather than spiced, with bitters made from kelp and shiitake

Umami Old Fashioned

An old fashioned seasoned rather than spiced, with bitters made from kelp and shiitake

Number of people

Ingredients

  • 4 dashesUmami Bitters
    Savoury bitters of kelp, bonito and shiitake
    Substitute: No substitution that keeps the savour
  • 2 ozJapanese Whisky
    A light blended whisky
    Substitute: Any blended Scotch or bourbon
  • 1/4 ozDemerara Syrup
    Rich 2:1, and less of it than usual
    Substitute: A sugar cube, muddled

Instructions

  1. Add 1/4 oz demerara syrup and 4 dashes Umami Bitters to a rocks glass
  2. Add 2 oz Japanese whisky and one large cube
  3. Stir in the glass until cold
  4. Express an orange peel over the surface and drop it in

Technique Notes

Go lighter on the sugar than a standard build. Savoury bitters read closer to salt than to spice, and salt and sugar amplify each other instead of balancing out.

Why the Umami Old Fashioned Works

Savoury bitters do not add a flavour so much as raise the ones already there, the way salt does in cooking. On a whisky old fashioned that means more oak and more grain and a longer finish, which is why the producer's own serve strips everything else out of the glass.