A New Spin on the Old Fashioned

By Chuck Walker

The “cocktail” as we know it today was officially defined in the May 13, 1806, edition of The Balance and Columbian Repository as “…a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters.” Though its exact origin is unclear, it is likely that the cocktail’s primary objective was to make bad liquor more drinkable. If the bar down the street was tinting rubbing alcohol with shoe polish and trying to pass it off as whiskey, all one needed to do was add some sugar, water, and bitters and voila! You could actually drink it without having to fight back your gag reflex. In fact, if the shoe polish and dirty glass didn’t send you on a full speed sprint to the privy, it was actually…kind of pleasant.

Over the decades fads, fat ties, and flavored vodkas have come and gone, but a well-executed cocktail is still a thing of beauty. Few people will remember their last rum and cola, but taste an expertly crafted Old Fashioned or Manhattan and you will remember it just like your first junior prom slow dance. Truth be told, it will probably be much more satisfying and, hopefully, will not involve a baby blue tuxedo.

As a long-time self-appointed bourbon whiskey evangelist, my go-to cocktail is the Old Fashioned. Unlike fruity vodka drinks that are cleverly designed to disguise the fact you are drinking an adult beverage, a properly constructed Old Fashioned accentuates and enhances the characteristics of the whiskey it contains. It truly is the epitome of what a cocktail should be. For this reason, most true Old Fashioned connoisseurs have spent countless hours painstakingly crafting and refining their personal versions of perfection.

Personally speaking, I will enjoy any version of this timeless classic as long as it adheres to a few basic rules:

1. Don’t use cheap whiskey. Bad whiskey makes a bad cocktail…period…end of story.
2. No club soda. Save the fizzy stuff for sorority parties. If you want a whiskey and soda order one, but carbonated water has no place in an Old Fashioned glass.
3. For that matter, stay away with the regular water too. Why, for the love of Elijah Craig, would anyone water down a fine whiskey and then add ice? Just go get a glass of iced tea for crying out loud, because that is what you’ll end up with when you’re done.
4. Never, and I mean never, let one of those bright red supermarket candied cherries posing as maraschinos come within a 5 mile radius of your glass. They are doing cherries around the world a great disservice and your drink (and humanity for that matter) would be better off without them.
5. Don’t kill your drink with too much fruit. Oranges and “good” cherries are fine, but you are not making Carmen Miranda a hat. Go easy on the orange slices.
6. Finally, back to the water thing, don’t make a great cocktail then kill it with a big scoop of ice. About five or six cubes is enough for any Old Fashioned. Any more than this and you might as well toss in a candied cherry for flavor.

Follow these six simple rules and I guarantee you that…well….at least I will like your drink. The most important thing however, is finding your own personal version of perfection. Experiment with different whiskies and bitters. A rye Old Fashioned is very different from a bourbon Old Fashioned, but they are both wonderful variations of the theme. As you perfect your version of this fine cocktail, always remember that bourbon is not vodka. Great bourbons have rich and complex layers of aroma and flavor that give them a character all of their own. Great vodkas, on the other hand, have…well…nice bottles. Anyway…pick a whiskey with the flavor profile you like and use it as your cocktail’s foundation. The rest of the ingredients should complement the whiskey, not overwhelm it. That said, here is one of my personal favorites. It is my new twist on the Old Fashioned. Give it a try and let us know what you think.

Chuck’s Orange Marmalade Artisan Old Fashioned

Ingredients:

3 oz. quality bourbon or rye whiskey (I prefer bonded or cask strength)

3-5 dashes Angostura bitters

1 scant teaspoon of orange marmalade (scant = 2/3 teaspoon give or take depending on how sweet you like your drinks)

1 Woodford Reserve™ whiskey cherry

1 orange peel twist

5 regular cubes of ice

Directions:

In a standard cocktail glass muddle cherry and marmalade with bitters.

Add 3 ounces of whiskey (yes 3 ounces) and stir lightly so the marmalade breaks up into the liquor.

Drop in ice cubes.

Rub rim of glass with orange peel, twist it over drink, and drop it in.

Serve immediately before ice begins melting.

One final important note: When you have finished your drink, dig your index finger into the clump of whiskey soaked marmalade bits schooling in the bottom of your glass and have them for the final course. It is like having a drink and dessert.