 Welcome back to Drinks Made Easy, because cocktails don't have to be difficult. Today we're taking a look at one of my favorite styles of old-fashioned. The one created by Kazuo Ueda, one of the masters of the bar world, and one of the most famous Japanese bartenders. He's been called the grandfather of the Japanese cocktail scene. He also is the creator of the Japanese hard shake, which you may or may not have ever heard of. If you're not a big cocktail person, you might say, I've never heard of this guy before. And that's all right, but I'd recommend picking up his cocktail book, because it's fantastic. And if you've been in any cocktail bar, I can guarantee you that they've been influenced by him. But one of the coolest things about his old-fashioned is it's all about the individual preference of the guests. Now, a lot of people get really uppity about this is the way an old-fashioned should be, or that's the way an old-fashioned should be. That's nonsense. It comes from a punch recipe. There's tons of variations, and this is a great example of making it how you want it, and how your guest wants it with one simple recipe. To build the Uyeda Japanese old-fashioned, we'll start with a small sugar cube, or in this case, just a half of a regular Demerara sugar cube. Next, we're going to add one dash, or if it's not really coming out, basically one and a half dashes of Angostura bitters, and two light dashes of soda water. Now, before you lose your mind, this is called for by Mr. Uyeda. And if you have a problem with his technique, take it up with arguably one of the greatest bartenders to ever live. He does talk about using this because it helps to break down the sugar cube, which is part of the reason why it's become so popular all around the world. It just allows for the integration of flavor between the sugar and the bitters. And if you think that's crazy, well, try making it without it, or try making it with water, and you'll see that water does tend to just flatten out, whereas a little bit of seltzer, we're not using soda water with sprite or sugar, et cetera, does tend to lift it up a little bit. But again, if you have a problem, take it up with the maestro himself. Next, we're gonna add some ice. We're gonna give it a quick little stir. And next, we're gonna add the trio of garnishes, which is the hallmark of the Uyeda Old Fashion, of a wheel of lime, lemon, and orange. The lime and lemon cut roughly to the same thickness and the orange to a double thickness. Insert a nice little spoon. And this is where really the choose-your-adventure style of the Uyeda Old Fashion comes into play. You're not going to pre-juice any of the wheels, that is what the spoon is there for so that the individual can decide how bitter and how sweet they want their particular old fashion or whether they wanna change it up as they go through drinking their cocktail. And there you have the Uyeda Old Fashion. Play around with the different amounts of citrus and let us know what you think. And if you have any other styles of old fashions that you particularly like, please recommend them. Thanks as always, and cheers from Drinks Made Easy.