Where to find the perfect Old Fashioned in Melbourne

Views over Port Phillip Bay are one of the main drawcards for the Deck, a Frankston drinking spot with a reputation for good food, live music and themed party nights. They take pride in their cocktail making here and make their Old Fashioneds with Woodford Reserve, but this month they are doing a bespoke Woodford Rye Old Fashioned that uses Woodford Bitters and Sugar Syrup. 

Inspired by the rock'n'roll cocktail bars of Hollywood, FeeFee's in Collingwood channels the glory days of vinyl and cassette tapes with a list of cocktails named after classic rock songs. In that spirit comes their twist on an Old Fashioned called Light My Fire – Woodford Reserve, housemade rosemary and clove syrup and mandarin bitters, garnished with mandarin and a flaming sprig of rosemary. The time to hesitate is through – get down there and try it before November 10.

Nestled in the heart of hip Gertrude Street, the Fitzroy Beer Garden is appropriately named – it's in Fitzy and it's got a leafy beer garden out back. The kitchen slings bar grub (the Famous Fat Eddy Burger is a Time Out fave) until 9pm each day, and the focus on craft beer and good tunes makes this joint well worth the visit. Take your Woodford Reserve Old Fashioned outside and enjoy it along with the balmy weather.    

The Macelleria concept is deliciously simple: it's a premium butcher that powers up the barbecue and cooks for you on the premises. Their dry-aged steaks, burgers and sausages have been packing in the punters in Richmond, and now it's quality meatfest in Glen Waverley too. Folks are making an evening of it and getting in a few drinks, and you can explore those whiskey-steak pairings with a Woodford Reserve Old Fashioned in hand.   

This atmospheric bar provides an intimate place for socialising, and they know their whisky too. If you can find the place – Manchuria is hidden up some stairs in a laneway in Chinatown – you’ll be rewarded with a highly Instagrammable White Old Fashioned that melds East and West. It's made with Woodford Reserve Rye, white port, Junmai Ginjo sake, rice syrup, orange blossom water and cherry blossom garnish. 

At this CBD barbecue and grill bar, glass cabinets are packed with thick, marbled rib eyes, chains of sausages and racks of short ribs, all lit up by spotlights. They’re throwing high quality beef into the Myron Mixon smoker, imported from the States. And they’re slinging well-made American cocktail classics too, like a Classic Woodford Reserve Old Fashioned that never fails to satisfy. All up, that’s a good time, guaranteed.

One of Melbourne's premier Irish pubs, PJ O'Brien's is where you'll find the walls splashed with paraphernalia from the Emerald Isle, TV screens playing the rugby, live music, traditional Irish grub, Guinness and of course, whiskey (did you know that Ireland was once the source of 90 per cent of the world's whiskey? Fun fact). For Old Fashioned Week, bartenders will make you a classic Woodford Old Fashioned and only charge you $16 for it. Call it the luck of the Irish.

Look out for the Smurf-coloured doors on an old warehouse in Thornbury and you’ve found Trumpy. It’s loud when you walk in, but that’s not due to the cathedral ceiling, exposed brick or minimalist wooden look of the place that reminds you of being on school camp – it’s because it’s full. Cocktails are where Trumpy exercise a bit of artistic licence: they’ll make you a mean classic but will trick it up, if you’re game. Case in point: the Trumpy Old Fashioned, which takes Barrel Aged Woodford Reserve and mixes it up with demerara (cane sugar) gomme and cherry bitters.

Whisky and Alement have been paving Melbourne nights with precious amber distills since 2010. What sets this bar apart is its warm service that’s as happy to guide a novice as it is to talk serious shop with a firewater devotee, and the fact that they import hard-to-find gems and sell them both by the shot and by the bottle. They also happen to make make one of the best Old Fashioneds around using Woodford Rye, Woodford bitters and housemate syrup.

The grand old pub opposite Flinders Street Station is simultaneously a beauty and a beast, with its profusion of punters streaming through its four bars, but Young & Jackson refuses to compromise on its standards just because its location attracts likely lads. Just like Chloe, the 1875 nude painting that graces its walls, the place has class as well as mass appeal. In addition to showcasing craft beers, it's a place where you can get a classic Woodford Reserve Old Fashioned, no questions asked.