FABLED POTION

A dirty martini might not be a classic martini but it is still a species of martini…so the time has come that we recognize the dirty old-fashioned (one with cherry and maybe an orange slice, muddled or not). But let’s be clear, such is a dirty old-fashioned and not a classic old-fashioned.

I used to work with this bartender who absolutely refused to put the Luxardo cherry in her old-fashioned cocktail despite it being the official recipe of the establishment. She had been trained in an upscale craft cocktail bar by an award-winning bartender who really knew his craft. When she saw other bartenders put the cherry in their old-fashioned she’d roll her eyes and say “A Luxardo belongs in a Manhattan but not an old-fashioned.” I sympathized with her but she was wrong, but not about the cherry. A good bartender will follow the rules of their establishment. 

Why the animosity for the cherry? The late Gary Regan recognized the cherry and orange slice as the controversy that really “raises cackles on many cocktillians.” Regan was a pioneer of the craft cocktail renaissance/revival of the twenty-first century. In his book The Joy of Mixology (2002), Regan gives two recipes for the old-fashioned. He calls one the old-fashioned old-fashioned and the other the Fruity Old-Fashioned. Regan states that the fruity version is how he was taught to make an old-fashioned when he worked as a bartender at Drake’s Drum (NY) in 1973. This recipe calls for a cherry and orange slice to be muddled with a sugar cube and bitters. He acknowledges the other recipe is the classic version, which is garnished with only a lemon twist. 

The Craft Cocktail Renaissance was a movement of the 21st century that cocktail historians recognize as a transformative movement where a handful of bars and enthusiasts began to utilize Golden Era (pre-prohibition) recipe books in their search for authenticity while insisting on fine ingredients, fresh-squeezed juices, and hand-crafted mixers. The Renaissance came to an end as these practices became homogenized as the new norm.

Regan wrote his book at the onset of the craft cocktail revival. It would be interesting to see if Regan would still have published his “fruity old-fashioned” if he had written his book twenty years later. Most treatises on the topic that have been published in the last ten years call for only a citrus peel to garnish.

The interesting thing about this trend is that it’s paradoxical. This minimalist citrus twist garnish is simultaneously new and classic. From 1895 until the publication of the Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930, by Harry Craddock, the Old-Fashioned was strictly garnished with a lemon peel. The old-fashioned itself was an incarnation of the nineteenth century whiskey cocktail, which was also garnished with just a lemon peel and had been since Jerry Thomas wrote the first treatise on mixed drinks in his 1862 Bar-tender’s Guide. Yet, if one ordered an old-fashioned at any time during the second half of the twentieth century it was almost certainly served with a cherry either muddled in it or garnishing it.

So what changed? The Golden Era of cocktails ended with prohibition. Harry Craddock published his book, The Savoy Cocktail Book, at the conclusion of prohibition. Afterward, an orange slice and a cherry became the new norm, either muddled or as a garnish. The change can be seen in Jack’s Manual, a bar manual that was published in numerous editions. In the 4th edition, published in 1918, and earlier editions, a lemon twist is the only thing to garnish the old-fashioned. In the 5th edition, published in 1933, the updated recipe calls for an orange wedge, lemon wedge, and cherry to garnish.

It’s sometimes speculated that poor whiskey during prohibition was to blame for the change in recipe. Something was needed to make it taste good and fruit did the job! Whether or not this is true, it would take bartenders 70 years to rediscover the classic form of this minimalistic cocktail.

With the cocktail renaissance of the 21st century, bartenders are looking for authenticity and that means going back to the classic recipes. In his article, In Search of the Ultimate Old-Fashioned, Robert Simonson writes that “modern bartenders wanted none of it” when it came to the “garbage” of the orange wedge and cherries. By the 21st century, Simonson contends that the best cocktail lounges and bartenders had reverted to the classic recipe, garnishing with only a lemon peel, orange peel (or both) as to “showcase the whiskey…not mask it.”

In his article, In Search of the Ultimate Old-Fashioned, Robert Simonson writes that “modern bartenders wanted none of it” when it came to the “garbage” of the orange wedge and cherries. By the 21st century, Simonson contends that the best cocktail lounges and bartenders had reverted to the classic recipe, garnishing with only a lemon peel, orange peel (or both) as to “showcase the whiskey…not mask it.

Yet Regan correctly points out that many people expect a “fruit salad” at the bottom of their old-fashioned. Is the fruit wrong? In the service industry is the customer not always right? I contend that the best bartender will know the classic recipe, will understand how to balance the drink, and will educate the client on the drink’s history when necessary to advocate a particular recipe but will ultimately satisfy the client. A dirty martini might not be a classic martini but it is still a species of martini…so the time has come that we recognize the dirty old-fashioned (one with cherry and maybe an orange slice, muddled or not). But let’s be clear, such is a dirty old-fashioned and not a classic old-fashioned.

Ultimately, I say leave them both out unless specifically requested OR unless your menu makes salient your recipe isn’t posing as a true classic version of the drink.