The Old Fashioned

When one poses themselves with a task such as this, where do you start? In the words of the immortal Michael Scott, “Sometimes I’ll start a sentence and I don’t know where it’s going. I just hope to find it somewhere along the way.” That is going to be my motto for the entirety of this piece of literary maladroitness. Thanks Google for a fancy word.

The Old Fashioned: The first (legal) cocktail I ever had. A quick Google search will illicit hundreds, if not thousands of articles, blog posts, and books on this very subject. It is a drink that has been morphed and changed throughout the years but has always stood the test of cocktail time.

What exactly is an Old Fashioned? Every bartender will potentially give you a different answer. In analyzing it’s roots in history, we can come up a definition of what an Old Fashioned is.

Cocktail and alcohol historians (Are those real? They have to be?) will give you several different origins of this cocktail, but it is generally understood that it is the original definition of a cock-tail.

Spirit, Bitters, Water, Sugar.

“WHERE’S THE WHISKEY.”

I can hear many of you screaming that right now. Well, sorry to disappoint but an Old Fashioned, by definition, can be made with any spirit. Whiskey is the go-to spirit for most people and 99.9% of bartenders will make you Old Fashioned with it, myself included, but it actually exists as a cocktail to uplift any given spirit. A rum Old Fashioned? Sign me up. A gin Old Fashioned? Refreshing and delicious! A vodka Old Fashioned?! You’d be better off drinking mop bucket water.

In the late 1800's, the profession of bartending became more elaborate and self-proscribed drink specialists (bartenders) began adding more and more ingredients to their whiskey based cocktails giving us the “Improved Whiskey Cocktail.” At the time, this was not for everyone. Those who wanted a cocktail with less flourish would order their drinks “the old fashioned way,” thus The Old Fashioned was coined.

This all happened well before the turn of the 20th century. If we continue to move forward in history, we will see how this specific drink changes. A similar change can be seen throughout countless spirits and cocktails. The changes that occurred to these different spirits and cocktails mirror the economic and political climate of the time. It’s so easy for us to drink our drinks and not consider the history tied to them but it is intrinsically latched to every sip we take.

Many of you have had an Old Fashioned with fruit muddled into it. This is a trend that came out of the Prohibition era because of how horrifically bad the bootlegged liquor was. They had to mask the flavor somehow, so they turned towards fruit. This was a tradition that was held onto and became very popular amongst the people of the 80's and, still to this day, hotels (If you've ever heard the term "A Hotel Old Fashioned," it is referring to this... monstrosity? I'll gingerly stand by that...).

Entire books can (and have) been written on this fantastically simple cocktail and it all comes down to 4 simple ingredients, one of which is just ice (or water, technically). It is simple, meaning that every ingredient can, and should, carry an endless amount of weight. If you want a new drinking experience, change up your whiskeys, fat-wash them, use a unique bitter, try maple syrup instead of your traditional simple syrup. Any tweak that you make will drastically change your experience from the mundane to the extraordinary. I won’t rant longer than I need too because I know you are all here for the fun part, actually making the drink. I’ll list my preferred version and some variations but the important part is that we get this drink into your hands and you, specifically you, enjoy the flavor. Because of that, all measurements are mostly a suggestion. If it's too strong, add more syrup. If it's too weak, consider an AA meeting.

A note on my preferred Old Fashioned: I enjoy a bourbon with a high rye content. In the simplest of terms, bourbon is sweet, rye is spicy. If you find a bourbon with a high rye content, then you get all of the sweet notes from the corn and the spice notes from the rye, rounding out the cocktail far better. I will, inevitably, go down a rabbit hole on whiskey but that is simple enough for now.

My Preferred Old Fashioned:

• 2 oz Bourbon

• 0.25-0.5 oz Simple Syrup

• 2 Dashes of Angostura bitters

• Add all ingredients to a Rocks Glass.

• Stir over ice.

• Garnish with an orange peel.
  

The “Original” Old Fashioned:

• 2 oz Old Overholt (This is the oldest American Whiskey in production, so it would be the closest to the original recipe.)

• 1 Sugar Cube

• 2-3 Dashes of Aromatic Bitters

• 2 Bar-spoons of Water

• Soak sugar cube in bitters and muddle.

• Add whiskey.

• Drink.

If you look at the above recipe, you are asking “Where’s the ice?” This is a reasonable question. The “Cocktail Ice Age” wasn’t until the early 20th century, meaning most early cocktails had no ice, only a small amount of water to aide in dilution.

Here’s an odd one to add to your cocktail knowledge….

The Wisconsin Brandy Old Fashioned:

• 1.5 oz Brandy

• 1 Sugar Cube

• 4-6 Dashes of Angostura Bitters

• 1 Orange Slice

• 1 Cherry

• Bar-spoon of Cherry Juice

• And, finally, Lemon-Lime Soda…….

• Muddle together the sugar cube, bitters, orange, cherry, and cherry juice.

• Add Brandy.

• Fill with ice & stir.

• Top with Soda.

• Immediately throw it away.

Your Preferred Old Fashioned

How meta of me…

Why put this section in here? It’s simple: If you’ve made it this far, you have interest in making an Old Fashioned or you are really enthralled by the words which I have penned (Although I sincerely doubt that).

I want to encourage you to step outside of your comfort zone and create something new and exciting. Buy lemon bitters, make a mint/basil syrup, infuse Gin with your favorite tea and make a deeply complex Gin Old Fashioned that has layers of botanical flavor. Bacon fat-wash a Demerara Rum, buy smoked aromatic bitters, and make a brown sugar & honey syrup for a smokey, sweet, and savory Rum Old Fashioned. Be driven by the creativity of yourself and possibilities of flavors to be explored.

Create something uniquely yours to enjoy.

Now go get drunk, darlings.