It started with a question: why does every bar make the same three Old Fashioneds?

The classic. The smoked. Maybe a maple variation. That's the whole menu at most places. The Old Fashioned is the most popular cocktail in America, and almost nobody treats it like it deserves more than three lines on a drink list.

We thought that was wrong.

The Problem

When we opened The Sentinel Room, we knew the Old Fashioned would be the backbone of the cocktail program. It's what people order. It's what brings them back. But we also knew that most guests had only ever tasted two or three versions of it. Not because they weren't curious — because nobody gave them options.

The format is simple enough to support endless variation. Spirit, sweetener, bitters, citrus. Change any one of those four elements and you have a new drink. Change the spirit from bourbon to rye and the character shifts. Swap simple syrup for honey or maple and the texture changes. Different bitters — chocolate, mole, walnut, black cherry — and you're in a different neighborhood entirely.

So we asked: what if we explored all of it?

Building the Menu

We didn't set out to build the largest Old Fashioned menu in the country. We set out to build the most interesting one. The number came from the work, not the other way around.

Every recipe on the menu starts with a question. What if we built an Old Fashioned around mezcal? That became the El Diablo. What if the sweetener was banana bread-inspired? That became the Banana Bread Old Fashioned. What about a coffee-forward version? The Carajillo Old Fashioned.

Some recipes are rooted in Kansas City. The 816 Spiced Maple is named for our area code. The KC Crossroads tips its hat to the neighborhood across the bridge. The Red Kingdom belongs to football season.

Others are seasonal. Gingy's Demise shows up around the holidays. The Pot O' Gold appears in March. They rotate in and out — but the core menu keeps growing.

Today, the menu sits at 36 original recipes. Every one is made to order. No batching. No shortcuts.

Why It Matters

An Old Fashioned tells you a lot about a bar. It's the simplest cocktail to describe and one of the hardest to get right. When someone can hand you a menu of 41 distinct versions — each balanced, each intentional — that says something about what they care about.

We care about the craft. We care about giving you something to explore, not just something to drink. We care about the conversation that happens when someone tries an Old Fashioned they've never had before and says, "I didn't know it could taste like this."

That's the whole point.

Come Try One

Start with the Sentinel's Old Fashioned — our house recipe, built on Four Roses Single Barrel. If you like it, we have 35 more.

208 W Lexington Ave, Independence, MO. Open Tue–Sat.

~ The Sentinel