What Is Don Draper Drinking? His Old Fashioned
Quick answer: Don Draper drinks an Old Fashioned made with rye. Don Draper's Old Fashioned is the 1960s style, with a sugar cube, bitters, muddled orange and cherry, and soda water. The modern classic Old Fashioned leaves out the soda water.
Don Draper doesn't drink anything complicated. He has a lot going on, and his drink is the one thing in his life that isn't a secret. It's an Old Fashioned, and the show makes that clear from the very first scene.
Where Don Draper drinks his Old Fashioned on Mad Men
The first time we meet Don, in Season 1, Episode 1 ("Smoke Gets in Your Eyes"), he's at a bar ordering an Old Fashioned. When he's out, that's what he orders. At the office it's simpler: there's a bottle of Canadian Club on the sideboard, and he drinks it straight. On Peggy's first day as his secretary, she's told Don drinks rye and asks, "That's Canadian, isn't it?"
The best Old Fashioned scene comes in Season 3, Episode 3 ("My Old Kentucky Home"). At Roger Sterling's party, Don slips away to the country club bar and makes his own. He makes one for a stranger, too, who turns out to be Conrad Hilton. The whiskey that night isn't Canadian Club, it's Old Overholt rye.
How Don Draper makes an Old Fashioned
What Don makes behind that bar is the Old Fashioned as most bars made it in the 1960s. The fruit goes in the glass and gets muddled, and a splash of soda helps the sugar dissolve.
What you need: 2 oz rye whiskey, 1 sugar cube, 2 dashes Angostura bitters, 1 orange slice, 1 maraschino cherry and a splash of soda water.
- Put the sugar cube in an old-fashioned glass and soak it with the bitters and a splash of soda water.
- Add the orange slice and cherry and muddle gently until the sugar dissolves.
- Add ice, pour in the rye and stir until cold.
Don pours closer to 4 oz. You don't need to. The full recipe is on our Don Draper's Old Fashioned page.
Don Draper's Old Fashioned vs. the classic
The big difference is the soda. Most bars today make the Old Fashioned without it. Our classic Old Fashioned is that version: 1½ oz whiskey, simple syrup, Angostura bitters, an orange peel and a cherry, stirred over one big cube. It tastes more like the whiskey. Don Draper's Old Fashioned adds a splash of soda, which makes it lighter, and muddles the orange and cherry into the drink instead of using them as a garnish.
The other difference is the whiskey. An Old Fashioned can be made with bourbon or rye. Both are American whiskey: bourbon is made mostly from corn, and rye whiskey mostly from rye. Rye is drier and spicier, and it's what Don uses. Bourbon is rounder and sweeter, and it's my pick. Either one works in both recipes.
Don Draper Old Fashioned questions
What does Don Draper drink?
An Old Fashioned made with rye whiskey when he's out, and Canadian Club straight at the office. Canadian Club is a Canadian whisky, which people in his day called rye.
What whiskey does Don Draper use in his Old Fashioned?
Rye. In "My Old Kentucky Home" (Season 3, Episode 3) he uses Old Overholt. Canadian Club is the bottle in his office.
Is Don Draper's Old Fashioned different from a regular one?
Yes. His has a splash of soda water, which the modern classic leaves out. He also muddles the orange and cherry into the drink instead of using them as a garnish.
Can I make it with bourbon instead of rye?
Yes. Bourbon makes it a little rounder and sweeter. Rye keeps it closer to the show.
If you want to drink like the rest of the office, Betty Draper's drink was a vodka Gimlet.
Cheers, and happy drinking.
