The Old Fashioned is one of the most “interpreted” cocktails out there.
Muddled fruit or no? Sparkling water or club soda to top it off, or no? Various flavors, ingredients, and techniques can be found in an Old Fashioned, depending on where you order it. In 49 states, it is a whiskey drink. In Wisconsin, where it is the unofficial state cocktail, it is made with brandy.
So what is a true Old Fashioned?
To answer this question, we have to go back over 200 years. While the term “cocktail” today, refers to any mixed drink, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a “cock-tail” was a specific category of drink, like a flip, a fizz, or a sour.
In the May 13th, 1806 edition of “The Balance and Columbian Repository”, the following definition appeared: “Cocktail is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters.”
At the time, various bitters were being sold as health tonics, touting the health benefits that made them up. They were rather unpleasant to drink straight, being, as the name implied, bitter in flavor. Mixing them with hard liquor, and a little sweetener, made it easier to take one’s daily dose of the stuff. Many people started each day off with a cock-tail, for medicinal purposes.
Around the middle of the 19th century, Vermouths, Absinthes and various liqueurs began to arrive from Europe, and become more readily available. Bartenders began to add these ingredients to make an “enhanced cocktail”. Each saloon had its own variation, in an attempt to stand out from the crowd.
Many people fought back against this trend, stating clearly and firmly, “I just want a plain, old-fashioned, cocktail.” Soon, that was shortened to “I want an Old Fashioned”, and a name was born.
During prohibition, a lot of “mixology” knowledge was lost, and after repeal, the trend at “modifying” or “enhancing” began again… this time, with muddled fruit among other things. One theory is that the muddled fruit was added during prohibition to help mask the taste of the inferior whiskey available at that time.
So what is a true “Old Fashioned”? In my opinion, I refer back to the original 1806 definition – spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters. So the folks in Wisconsin are not wrong. An Old Fashioned can be made with whiskey, brandy, rum, gin, any spirit you like, though whiskey is the accepted standard.
Flavors can be adjusted by selecting different bitters. There are dozens on the market today, as compared to the dusty old bottle of Angostura found behind most bars 20 years ago, which no one knew what to do with.
I would also offer that “sugar” is open to interpretation, and different sweeteners can be used. Brown or demerara sugar are certainly reasonable choices that add depth of flavor. How about honey or maple syrup? You can even match the sweetener to the base spirit. How about a rum Old Fashioned with molasses? Tequila or Mezcal with agave syrup?
When a drink stops being a true Old Fashioned, again in my opinion, is when you start adding “modifiers”. Additional modifier spirits, liqueurs, etc., disqualify a drink from being a proper Old Fashioned. The Sazerac, while one of my favorite drinks, is technically not an Old Fashioned, due to the Absinthe rinse.
While I’m not a fan of muddled fruit in this drink, there’s certainly a strong historical argument for it. For decades, any published recipe included it, and there are still many places that serve this version of the drink. I generally refer to this style as a “Prohibition Era Old Fashioned” to distinguish it from the original, but there are many who would disagree with me.
Have an opinion? I’d love to hear it in the comments. And if you enjoyed reading this, please consider subscribing.