Description
This simple old-fashioned cocktail is a great way to assess various gins because the other flavors are easy to identify, but they still bring balance and flavor to the glass.
The oldest-style cocktails were simply liquor (often of a markedly inferior grade by today's standards) with simple syrup or sugar and bitters. The obvious next step was to substitute a sweet liqueur for the sugar, and Triple Sec was a common choice.
There are Fancy Whiskeys, Fancy Brandys, etc, all using this same formula of 4 parts liquor to 1 part Triple Sec and either Angostura or Orange Bitters.