Chilled Drink of the Week: Montanya Old Fashioned

By Chilled Magazine

Montanya distillers introduces a line of house-made bitters using rum as the base from which to infuse dramatic flavors such as pineapple habanero, winter peach, coffee, fig, grapefruit, tiki and Thai. Currently the bitters are available only at the distillery.

Tasting Room Shop - Bitters and More

Tasting Room Shop – Bitters and More

Photo Courtesy by Nathan Bilow
Old Fashioned

Old Fashioned

Photo Courtesy by Nathan Bilow

Montanya Old Fashioned

Ingredients:

  • 3 oz. Montanya Oro Rum
  • 1/4 oz. Simple Syrup
  • 5 Drops Montanya Citrus Bitters
  • 1 Amarena or Luxardo Cherry
  • Pinch Sugar
  • Slice of Fresh Orange

Preparation: In the bottom of a rocks glass, muddle orange, cherry and sugar. Add ingredients to glass and stir with a swizzle spoon. Garnish with an Amarena cherry.

Karen Hoskin, founder and president/CEO and lead mixologist of Montanya Distillers in Crested Butte, Colorado explains how bitters can be perfectly paired with rum:

Bitters are the origins, the starting point, of what we call cocktails today.

“In the early days of the soda fountain, customers would get a few drops of bitters combined with soda to help an upset stomach or a skin condition. These concoctions were served in a French egg cup called a ‘coquetier,’ which evolved into the word ‘cocktail.’ Bitters, which are a type of concentrated alcohol, began to be combined with other spirits to make the style of beverages we now call cocktails. In the same medicinal evolution, the British mixed Quinine into tonic and gin to prevent Malaria in India. Cocktails grew out of medicinal purposes.”

Share This Story, Choose Your Platform!