The Story of the Old Fashioned

So why is it called the Old Fashioned and how did it weave itself into our cocktail lore.

“make it the old fashioned way...”

At the end of workday when it’s time to ease off the accelerator a bit and relax, my go-to drink these days is an Old Fashioned, normally made with Kentucky bourbon. It is fairly simple to make and always tasty. So where did this drink come from and why is it called the Old Fashioned?

Well, grab your drink of choice – though I would recommend an Old Fashioned here if you are so inclined – and pull up a comfy seat.

Let’s start before the term “Old Fashioned” to the origin of the “cocktail.” Trust me going back will be worth it. Plus, I am not going back to the 15th Century or even BC with the early versions of vinegars and wines mixed with fruits, just to the early 1800s.

Ah, it was like yesterday in 1803 and then 1806 when the term “cocktail” was first seen in print in the U.S in both The Farmer's Cabinet and The Balance and Columbian Repository respectively. Though there is some dispute on whether the word originated in England or the U.S., it was the 1806 U.S. definition that takes off:

“Cock-tail is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters—it is vulgarly called bittered sling, and is supposed to be an excellent electioneering potion, in as much as it renders the heart stout and bold, at the same time that it fuddles the head. It is said, also to be of great use to a democratic candidate: because a person, having swallowed a glass of it, is ready to swallow any thing else.”

Further definitions of the word can be discussed, but not here as we need to move to the next part of our tale before all the ice melts. Special concoctions or cocktails were being crafted and served in supper clubs, taverns, and plantations in the 1800s to draw consumers into their establishments. A list of drinks can be found in Larouss Cocktail book and is provided in brief on the blog “The Complete Timeline Of When Famous Cocktails Were Invented.” Amongst those early 1800 drinks was what we know now as the Old Fashioned. At the time it was just called a whiskey cocktail and consisted of a sugar cube wetted with bitters over ice with American whiskey.

By the mid-1800s, syrups were being used and drinks were getting fancy. Customers not happy with the new fancy drinks would ask for a drink made in the “old fashioned way.” Though it must be said that the fancier versions also persisted. After prohibition, the recipe was altered with powdered sugar, soda water and muddled fruit (oranges, cherries and pineapple). It was reportedly super sweet and fizzy. I am not sure what your thoughts are on such a concoction, but unless I am wearing flip-flops and sitting at a tiki-themed, open-air bar smelling the ocean breeze, I do not want a drink with that much sweetness and fruit.

The inclusion of fruit persisted through the rest of the 1900s as a popular version of the cocktail and as presented in this “Mad Men” themed drink recipe:

• Canadian Club whisky

• Maraschino cherries

• A sugar cube

• Two orange slices (one for garnish and one to put in the drink)

• Angostura bitters

• 1 large ice cube

• A muddler

Now we turn to the 21st century. There is a start of a cocktail renaissance which welcomes the Old Fashioned that is about the subtle flavors of a good whiskey/bourbon and not about a fruit cocktail. You can find recipes all over the web, but for me, I like an Old Fashioned that is a bit heavier on the bitters and always use a good bourbon (though I am known to substitute a nice smoky mescal):

Shake in ice the following:

• 2 oz Kentucky Bourbon (or your choice of liquor)

• 4 Dashes of Angostura Bitters

• 2-4 Dashes of Peychaud Bitters (add if you like more bitters)

• 4 or so dashes of Regan No 6 Orange Bitters (add if you like more bitters)

• 3/4 oz Demerara sugar syrup (I make my own often with a bit of cinnamon and clove)

Pour over ice (large cube if you have it)

Take a long peel of orange and express it over the drink. Take the peel lightly around the rim of the glass to get a bit more oil on the drinking surface. Then drop the peel in the glass.

Cheers!