The Old Fashioned Whiskey Cocktail
So far, the cocktails we’ve been looking at have all been good standard classic cocktails, with a relatively long history behind them. For this week, let’s turn the clock back even further and take a look at a cocktail that could perhaps be viewed as the one of the oldest cocktails.
As I mentioned in connection with the Champagne Cocktail, originally a cocktail was defined as being made with a spirit of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters. When that spirit is Bourbon (or Rye), what you have is known as the Old Fashioned cocktail.
Now there happens to be a story that relates how this cocktail was invented at the Pendennis Club in Louisville Kentucky, perhaps in the later half of the 19th century. As the story goes, the bartender was asked to make a cocktail, but the customer warned him that he didn’t like whiskey. Aghast at the concept of serving a non-whiskey drink in the heart of bourbon country, the bartender instead whisked him up a drink made using sugar, dissolved in a little water, bitters, and bourbon, garnished with a wedge of lemon. The customer was delighted, and asked what the drink was, to which the bartender replied that it was an “Old Fashioned”.
It makes a good story, and perhaps it is in fact true, but it almost certainly is not how this cocktail originated. The first occurrence of a recipe listed as “Old Fashioned” appears in “Modern American Drinks” (1895) by George J. Kappe and is listed as “Old-Fashioned Whiskey Cocktail”. Virtually any cocktail book prior to that date however, lists pretty much the same cocktail, but simply under the name Whiskey Cocktail. Thus we can conclude that while the bartender at the Pendennis Club may have introduced the trend of calling this drink “Old-Fashioned” instead of just as a “Whiskey Cocktail”, he did not in fact invent the drink.
These days, the Old Fashioned has become a drink that few people order. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this wasn’t partially due to the fact that most bartenders do an absolutely horrid job of making it. The worst in the litany of their crimes is that they will often top it off with soda. This problem occurs because it has become common to serve this drink in a “double” Old Fashioned glass, but this means that the drink will only half-fill the glass, the easiest (and cheapest) solution is to simply fill the remainder with water, and since most of the old recipes called for a “splash of water”, no harm done, right? Unfortunately, that so called “splash” of water in the original recipes was there simply to help dissolve the sugar, essentially making a little simple syrup in the glass. So the water added should be about the same amount as the sugar added, about a teaspoon. The next problem we see with the modern Old Fashioned is the muddling of a cherry with the sugar. This really doesn’t add much besides a little more sweetness, and a cherry carcass that really isn’t all that appealing. A slice of orange is also often muddled in the drink, and while the orange flavor does go quite well with the whiskey, I personally would prefer not to have the added pulp.
While there are countless variations on how this drink can be made, the following is the recipe that I find best reflects the history of this esteemed cocktail, while at the same time incorporating a few of the enhancements that have been made to it over time.
Old Fashioned Whiskey Cocktail
(using a small Old Fashioned glass)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon water
- 2 dashes Angostura bitters
Muddle to combine and dissolve the sugar.
Fill the glass with ice.
Squeeze a half-dollar size of orange peel over the ice to express the oils from the skin into the glass.
- 1 1/2 ounces Bourbon or American Rye whiskey
Stir to mix well and chill the drink.
Garnish with a half orange wheel and a maraschino cherry.
Serve with small straws and/or a small swizzle stick
The sugar may not dissolve totally, and so I often recommend that people substitute simple syrup for the sugar and water.
Even if you’ve grown accustomed to an improperly made Old Fashioned, I strongly recommend that you give this version a try. And if you’re lucky, you just might find a bartender who knows how to make it this way as well.
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I agree that few bartenders know how to make an Old Fashioned well, if at all. It would be a popular drink if they gave it half the attention they do for a Cosmopolitan.
Done right, the Old Fashioned is a wonderful cocktail indeed.