For this week’s cocktail of the week, we delved into the history books again for a very classic cocktail, the Old Fashioned. This cocktail is probably one of the oldest recorded in the history books. Its recorded history possibly dates back to 1806 in one form or another. Depending on your chosen source, it appears to have a very mixed history; from a gentlemen’s club in Kentucky to The Waldorf Astoria in New York. The only thing for certain is that you can tell it is old, the glass it is traditionally served in, the ‘old fashioned glass’, is named after the drink!
For this historic drink, you will need;
- Whiskey (a bourbon or rye one)
- Ice cubes
- Orange twist
- Cocktail cherry
- Sugar cubes
- Angostura bitters
- Plain water
To prepare the drink, take the old fashioned glass, if you don’t have one a low ball or tumbler will suffice, and place the sugar cube in the glass. Add two dashes of Angostura bitters, saturating the sugar and then add a dash of water. Using a muddle, muddle the ingredients together until the sugar is dissolved. Next, pour the whiskey into a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake to cool the whiskey and then pour over the sugar in the glass. To serve, garnish with an orange twist and cocktail cherry. We didn’t have any oranges so couldn’t add the twist. Instead we relied on the cocktail cherries to garnish the drink.
You can imagine the appeal of the Old Fashioned cocktail in the 1800’s or early part of the 19th Century. A cold, sweetened whiskey would have been a pleasant drink to have on a hot afternoon. We would be very happy to be in New York, sitting at the bar of the Waldorf Astoria enjoying this drink, but there again, who wouldn’t!
