It is a drink as old as time (pun intended), but if you are a fan of whiskey and classic cocktails then the Old Fashioned may be what you have been looking for.
The Old Fashioned was first developed in the 19th century and is considered by a few to be the first cocktail that was created. It can be traced back to 1806 where the first use of the word “cocktail” could be found in response to a reader’s letter in a May 13, 1806 issue of “The Balance and Columbian Repository” in Hudson, New York. The paper said it was a potent concoction of spirits, bitters , water, and sugar and it was referred to as a “bitter sling” at the time. Over time other spirts had been used in the drink’s recipe, for example by the 1860’s it was normal for Orange Curacao , absinthe and other liquors to be included in it. However, the most popular form according to Chicago bartenders was the one that made use of whiskey and specifically Rye whiskey over Bourbon.
There were brief periods in time where Bourbon became the more popular choice for us in the Old Fashioned but more recently Rye has started to make a comeback again. Both Chicago and Kentucky make claim to the inception of the cocktail and was said to be made in honour of the bartender at Pendennis Club in New York City. With this storied history in 2015 Louisville named the Old Fashioned the official cocktail of the city and each year during the first two weeks of June “Old Fashioned fortnight” is celebrated along with national Bourbon day.
So, the Old Fashioned comes with a heavy history and a lot of twists on its original recipe. Here is how the proclaimed first cocktail is made.
Ingredients
2.oz Rye or Bourbon whiskey
1 Sugar cube
3-4 dashes of bitters (flavour of your choice)
Garnish: Maraschino cherry and an orange wheel
Preparation
Put a sugar cube into an old fashioned lowball glass.
Add 3-4 dashes of bitter on top of the sugar cube saturating it.
Muddle the sugar cube lightly till its ground up at the bottom of the glass.
Add your Rye or Bourbon whiskey to the glass.
Add 2 ice cubes to the glass and give it a stir with a bar spoon.
Garnish with a Maraschino cherry and orange wheel on a skewer.
Further Information
In the example above I have set the garnish skewer on top of the glass for aesthetic purposes , but you can place it in the drink if you want to add a slight orange after taste which I tried and felt it made the drink more palatable.
There are other recipes out there that will tell you to add the orange slice into the glass and muddle it with the sugar cube then replace the garnishes again after. I feel this is unnecessary and makes the preparation to long and drawn out but if you want to add that bit more to the drink then this may be an option for you.
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