Chicago-based Sunday’s Finest Cocktails released its inaugural ready-to-drink Gold Fashioned in 2021, and the RTD world has never been the same. With laser focus on producing impeccably sourced, masterfully crafted cocktails that can be enjoyed whenever and wherever, the Sunday’s Finest team—led by founder Robert Haynes—leapt to craft cocktail prominence with the introduction of its super-premium, classic Old Fashioned blend, created with the best possible variations of its relatively simple ingredients (whiskey, bitters, sugar).
No stranger to the cocktail world, Haynes, a Chicago bartender at heart, climbed the ranks at James Beard award-winning cocktail bar The Violet Hour before shifting his focus to help create Letherbee Distillers’ Bësk, a cult-classic among industry professionals and global imbibers. In 2017, he co-founded Apologue, a line of award-winning liqueurs featuring palate-provoking ingredients. His introduction, with co-founders Jordan Tepper and Damiane Nickles, of the 2021 Gold Fashioned earned a Double Gold medal at the LA Spirits Championship and a title of Bottled Cocktail of the Year from Esquire.
Gold Fashioned’s 2022 iteration ups the ante on the original with a split-base blend of three older whiskeys for the perfect balance of richness, spice, and character: a 15y Kentucky Straight Bourbon, a 9y Kentucky Straight Bourbon, and a 6y Indiana Straight Rye. Complementing the whiskeys are Sunday’s Finest Saffron Bitters (made in-house) and naturally raw Fair-Trade Demerara from Malawi. Flavor-wise, the bitters blend is anchored by hand-harvested Afghan saffron, wild-harvested French gentian root, and Seville orange peel, which bring floral and bitter citrus top notes that are balanced by the warmth and spice of the single-estate Ecuadorian cacao and Grade A Tahitian vanilla. Warning: One taste, and no other Old Fashioned will ever compare. (Move over Angostura-dribbled sugar cube.)
'This year's Gold Fashioned represents the culmination of over a decade spent behind the bar, meticulously working to make each cocktail better than the last,” said Haynes. “Every component of this world class cocktail has been fine-tuned and is ready-to be enjoyed with your friends and loved ones whenever and wherever suits you best.'
The Gold Fashioned’s custom packaging (a stately blue and gold, bi-fold box) makes it ideal for gifting. The presentation includes a zest atomizer filled with a blend of Valencia, navel, and blood oranges, to be misted over the poured cocktail which is ideally chilled with one large ice cube. Each 750 ml bottle ($150) contains about 12 2 oz cocktails.
Order directly here at Sunday’s Finest, but hurry. Production is limited.
Photos courtesy of Sunday’s Finest
