Old Fashioned cocktail on display at the Bulleit at Tribeca Film Festival lunch at Spring Studios on April 24, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Matthew Eisman/Getty Images for Bulleit)

The best whiskey for an Old Fashioned is entirely up to one’s personal preference. However, each kind of whiskey has its own qualities it lends to the cocktail it’s in.

Bourbon is known to be sweeter than its rye counterpart. Rye has a tendency to have a spicier flavor which many people prefer to counteract their sweet cocktails.

However, an Old Fashioned is not a particularly sweet cocktail, so we recommend using a bourbon. Cocktails are also a good time to use the less expensive whiskey on your shelf and save the good stuff for drinking neat or on the rocks.

For step-by-step instructions on how to make an Old Fashioned click here.

Here at Whiskey Raiders, we do more than write about current events in Whiskey. We are the only media property reviewing whiskeys as well as aggregating the scores and reviews of other great voices in the whiskey world in one place. Check out our Review Archive for reviews and thoughts from our in-house critic. If you’re interested in getting a shot of whiskey in your morning email, sign up for our Daily Dram Gram!