Tag: old-fashioned
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The Origin of Cocktails and the Glorious Medicine Show!
We are deceived if we believe the cocktail is no longer medicinal. It might not cure typhoid, rheumatism, or nervous fever, but it’s a potion for the mind. Alcohol, when given the right environment, blurs the boundaries of imagination, and sometimes, such transformational power is a potent medicine. The soul, after all, is found in… Read more
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Spook
To be clear, Spook is an old-fashioned and it’s quite traditional (well because we’re using simple syrup we might as well just call it a brandy cocktail). While typically associated with bourbon or rye, brandy has been used in old-fashioneds for as long as old-fashioneds have been made. This particular crafting uses clear Copper &… Read more
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Another Old-Fashioned Controversy: What About That Muddled Sugar Cube?
Based on a review of vintage recipes, the “old-fashioned” historically referred to a specific way of making the now defunct-in-name “whiskey cocktail,” as there was a time when cocktail books had recipes for both the old-fashioned and the whiskey cocktail. They were essentially the same drink, except the whiskey cocktail was sweetened with gomme syrup… Read more
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The Colonel
The Colonel is a craft take on the dirty old-fashioned. It’s common to see the old-fashioned garnished with a cherry and orange wedge but fine restaurants and craft bars generally stick to the classic form, which is garnished with only a lemon peel. Any fruit in the drink makes an old-fashioned “dirty,” which is an… Read more
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Sweet Mash Rye Old-Fashioned
This old-fashioned follows the late nineteenth century rubric for the cocktail. It’s got only a bar-spoon of sugar, two dashes of Peychaud’s Bitters and one bar spoon of Grand Marnier (about 1.5 dashes). Believe it or not, it was once common to use a dash or two of orange curaçao in an old-fashioned. Nowadays, orange bitters… Read more
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Cherried, Not Cherried: An Old-Fashioned Controversy
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… Read more