The Old Fashioned (A Love Story)
Either the photo above has been edited to suit the topic of this post, or I was just having a wee too much fun editing photos in Picnik. Maybe it was a little bit of column A and a little bit of column B.
What you’re seeing above is the set up last Friday night for the Old Fashioned Bar I put together for my friend’s birthday party. Taped up above were two old fashioned recipes — one as basic and, well, old fashioned as possible, and the other from Maker’s Mark — and directions for bourbon highballs. Interestingly, the Maker’s Mark version contained no bitters. My thinking had been that this way no one would be stuck in the kitchen mixing drinks for the duration.
According to cocktail historian David Wondrich, the Old Fashioned is called such because by the late 1800s, people couldn’t simply order a cocktail without winding up with a glass of something rather high on frippery. So, ladies and gents wishing to imbibe in something less fancy, a good old fashioned cocktail, would order an Old Fashioned.
The Old Fashioned is a true cocktail, containing spirits, sugar, water, and bitters. The bitters are key. The reason I love this cocktail is that it is simultaneously simple and complex. They’re easy to make, and I’d never trust a bartender who couldn’t turn out a decent one, but the combination of bitters and bourbon is full of nuance. Also, this is a drink that mellows nicely as the melting ice dilutes it. In short, there’s very little I don’t like about the Old Fashioned.
Old Fashioned
(Use short bar glass)
1 sugar cube or 1 tsp. sugar
2-3 dashes bitters
2 oz. bourbon
1/2 oz. water
1 orange slicePlace the sugar cube (or sugar) in the bottom of the glass. Add 2-3 dashes bitters, then muddle with orange slice. Top with bourbon and water, then fill glass with ice and stir.
And, in case you want to set up your own old fashioned bar, here’s what I had on hand for the occasion:
- brown and white “European style” sugar cubes
- orange slices
- maraschino cherries
- water pitcher
- ice bucket
- glass full of spoons
- Maker’s Mark and Old Crow Reserve bourbon
- Angostura Bitters, Fee Brothers Orange Bitters, Fee Brothers Cherry Bitters, and Peychaud’s Bitters
You could certainly have more — or better — bourbons than we did, although I believe both of these are pretty solid. Maker’s Mark is nearly unimpeachable. The Old Crow Reserve might seem a bit out of left field, but I tried it at a local American whiskey festival after I overheard a liquor store buyer say it tasted “like smoked butter.” I tried it, and I couldn’t agree more. It’s incredibly smooth, especially for the price point.
The lemons you see in the picture were for highballs, which are a nice option to have available for people who are disinclined to the Old Fashioned. The ginger ale highball far outpaced the club soda highball in popularity. If you want to fancy those up, you can always make your own ginger ale.
