Dark and boozy, a little sweet and bitter…is there another bourbon whiskey more satisfying than the Old Fashioned? The Old Fashioned is one cocktail that has never gone out of style. We will take you on a journey to fun facts about this legendary drink to stir conversations and thoughtful sipping.
1- It’s the very first definition of a Cocktail
The technical composition of a cocktail is the following: Spirit, sugar, water and an element of bitterness. In a duo of articles in the Federalist newspaper from Hudson, New York, “The Balance and Columbian Repository,” “cocktail” was mentioned in print twice as early as May 1806, with the second laying out the four components aforementionned, which, as a matter fact, sound mostly like the Old Fashioned Bourbon Whiskey.
2- It originated as the Whiskey Cocktail
The Old Fashioned is a cocktail of evolution. By the time cocktail recipe books began appearing in the late 19th century, what we would call an Old Fashioned today was often under the title of Whiskey Cocktail.
The 1887 first edition of Harry Johnson’s “Bartenders’ Manual offers up the Whiskey Cocktail with gum syrup, ice, Angostura or Boker’s bitters, a couple of dashes of curaçao, and whiskey. By 1887, he ditched the Angostura. By 1900, he swapped the syrup for raw sugar and called for a couple of dashes of curaçao or absinthe. All iterations got a lemon twist expressed over the top.
3- Sweet Is a Thing
Residents of Wisconson love their Old Fashioneds so much that there are multiple variations of the regular recipe. You can order it sweet, and you’ll get a splash of lemon-lime soda. Order it sour, and you might get sour mix. Sweet versions also stand out for their extra punch of bitter-sweet flavor, according to Sara Roahen, a Wisconsin native and former food critic for “Gambit” in New Orleans. “There’s an Old Fashioned, and then there’s the Brandy Old Fashioned Sweet, a Wisconsin-centric mix that goes heavy on the Angostura.”
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