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Home » Classic Mocktails

Jun 16, 2023 by Kristin

Virgin Old Fashioned

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Classic, timeless and alcohol-free this Virgin old fashioned is a super easy and elegant mocktail to serve up at your next cocktail hour. Raise your glass, sit back and sip on this drink as a sophisticated addition to your next evening.

Virgin old fashioned with cherries and chunk of orange in the glass on a wooden table.
Jump to:
  • 🥃 What is a Virgin Old Fashioned?
  • ⭐ When to Make This Drink
  • 📖 Variations
  • 🥄 Equipment
  • 📋 Ingredients
  • 👩🏻‍🍳Instructions
  • Recipe

🥃 What is a Virgin Old Fashioned?

A virgin old fashioned is a combination of simple syrup, bitters and black or barley tea served in a rocks glass with a few maraschino cherries and a little sliver of orange as garnish. This mocktail is a nice

This easy to make non-alcoholic twist on a classic old fashioned has the same richness and flavor tones, but without the whiskey. Using black or barley tea is a nice substitute as They tend to have some similar flavors of boldness, smokiness and and maltiness as does whiskey (source).

This drink like other virgin versions of classic cocktails simply places the liquor with a different liquid such as tea, juice or soda. This is done in a variety of different virgin drinks such as the virgin strawberry daiquiri and virgin pina colada.

Here are a few reasons you’ll definitely love this recipe:

  • Couldn’t be easier. Literally all you have to do is add tea and two other ingredients. This one couldn’t be easier to make, you only need about 5 minutes.
  • Robust flavor. The bold and robust flavor of the black tea served with a little sweetness and flavor enhancing bitters is a great sipping drink.
  • Classic elegance. There’s not a drink much more elegant and timeless than a simple old fashioned. From the small, squarish glass to the one pop of red cherry color this is a elegant drink.

⭐ When to Make This Drink

This simple and timeless mocktail can be served up at so many different occasions including:

  • Nightcap
  • Signature drink
  • After dinner drinks
  • Brunch

📖 Variations

One of the nice things about this beverage is that you can make a few ingredient modifications and change things up if you want. Here are a few ideas to consider:

  • Use decaf. If you want to cut the caffeine out of this drink and perhaps serve it in the evening, use a decaf tea.
  • Use barley tea instead of black tea. So barley tea is similar to black tea They do have some different flavors. Barley tends to have a little bit of a nutty flavor and a little bit of a bitterness as well.
  • Use a sugar cube. Instead of adding simple syrup, you can use a large sugar cube or two in the drink.
  • Muddle it. Take an orange peel and muddle it together in the bottom of the glass with a simple syrup before adding your tea on top.
  • Use an ice cube. Old fashions are typically served with craft ice that are large ice cubes one or two of them and a glass.

🥄 Equipment

  • Rocks/Scotch/Bourbon glass
  • jigger

📋 Ingredients

  • Orange slice (garnish)
  • Maraschino cherry (garnish)
  • 4-6 dashes of bitters
  • .25 oz of Simple syrup
  • Top with black tea.
  • Ice
Black tea, rocks glass with cherry & orange garnish, simple syrup and bitters on a wooden table.

👩🏻‍🍳Instructions

Step one

Gather together everything you’ll need for this drink including black tea, rocks glass, maraschino cherries, slice of orange, jigger, bitters and simple syrup.

Step two

Get your garnished together by cutting a small slice of orange. Then sticking two maraschino cherries and the orange on a cocktail pick.

Pouring simple syrup into a rocks glass.

Step three

Measure 0.25 oz of simple syrup and pour it into the rocks glass.

Adding bitters into a rocks glass.

Step four

Grab your bitters and add 4 to 6 dashes into the glass with the simple syrup.

Pouring black tea into a rocks glass.

Step Five

Take your black tea and pour it directly into the rocks glass. Typically with a classical fashioned you would use 2 oz of liquid. And that’s what we’ve used here.

However, if you wanted to have a larger drink you could certainly fill the glass up more.

Recipe

Virgin old fashioned with cherries and chunk of orange in the glass on a wooden table.
Print Recipe
5 from 1 vote

Virgin Old Fashioned

Prep Time5 minutes mins
Course: Drinks
Keyword: Virgin Old Fashioned
Servings: 1

Equipment

  • jigger
  • Rocks glass

Ingredients

  • Orange Slice garnish
  • Maraschino Cherry garnish
  • 4-6 dashes Bitters
  • .25 oz Simple Syrup
  • 5 oz Black Tea
Metric – US Customary

Instructions

  • Brew up a cup of black tea.
  • Set the tea in the refrigerator or freezer to chill.
  • Add a few ice cubes to the glass.
  • Take a jigger and measure .25 oz of simple syrup. Toss that into the rocks glass.
  • Take the cooled tea and measure out 5 oz. Toss that into the glass.
    Note: you can just top the glass off with tea instead of measuring if you want.
  • Take the bitters and add 4 – 6 dashes into the glass.
  • Give the glass a few swirls to mix it all up.

Garnishes

  • If you want to add garnishes, now is the time.
  • Take an orange and cut it into slices
  • Take a cocktail pick and stick it through one orange slice.
  • Add a maraschino cherry on the pick with the orange.
  • Add the cocktail pick to the glass.

Notes

Measurements:  it is nice to use a jigger to easily measure ingredients in ounces.  However, if you don’t have a jigger, you can use teaspoon and cups.
  • .25 oz of simple syrup is 1.5 tsp.
  • 4 oz of Black tea is ½ cup.
Variations:
  • substitute the simple syrup for a sugar cube.
  • substitute the black tea for barley tea.

More Classic Mocktail Recipes

  • Virgin pina colada in a hurricane glass with slice of pineapple on the rim.
    Virgin Pina Colada
  • Raspberry mojito mocktail on a wooden table with ingredients in the background.
    Raspberry Mojito Mocktail
  • Moscow mule mocktail on a wooden table with ingredients in the background.
    Moscow Mule Mocktail
  • Virgin mojito on a wooden table with mint in the glass.
    Virgin Mojito

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