The ice pops once as the moonshine hits it. You lean back in the chair, orange oil still on your fingers, and watch the last light drain off the mountains.

The Old Fashioned is the oldest cocktail template there is -- spirit, sugar, bitters, citrus peel. It has survived Prohibition, tiki bars, and the molecular mixology era because it does not need improving. It just needs good ingredients and a steady hand. Swapping bourbon for moonshine does not reinvent the wheel. It just puts Montana behind it.

Moonshine brings a cleaner, corn-sweet canvas. The sugar cube and bitters paint on it the same way they always have, but you taste the spirit more clearly -- its grain character, its slight sweetness, the warmth without the heavy oak. The orange peel ties the top notes together, and the Luxardo cherry sinks to the bottom like a reward for finishing the glass.

This is the drink you make when you do not need to impress anyone. When the porch is quiet and the evening is long. One glass, made right, is all you need.