The return of the Old Fashioned is proof of a cocktail renaissance
FADS in cocktails come and go, but with each movement something of the best is kept, or later rediscovered. Quality endures. And thankfully we’re drinking through something of a renaissance, with no resurgence as welcome as that of the Old Fashioned.
The Old Fashioned represents everything that’s good and true. Its name derives from around the 1870s, with cocktail aficionados of their day literally demanding from their bartender something “old fashioned”. They were eschewing the messy concoctions that were then passing for cocktails. The base liquor varied, but the essence was the same: a balanced drink, which works with the dominant alcohol, instead of trying to drown it in a chaos of sensory confusion.
But a century later we were back in iniquity. It has been slowly saved from its 1970s fall, when bartenders’ flair made a muddled a fabrication of this previously noble drink. A cornucopia of sliced, diced and muddle fruit had infiltrated it beyond comprehension. Thankfully, the cocktail is once more liberated, with the heroic sombre simplicity echoing that base call for simplicity and balance. Most modern additions are playful failures, rather than outright heretical.
The key thing to know is that it takes a long time to make a decent Old Fashioned. If you aren’t waiting minutes at the bar for it, you aren’t getting a good cocktail. The alternative is to make it at home and there is something undeniably cathartic about the process of mixing it. It might be one of the hardest drinks to perfect, but there is plenty of entertainment to be had in the process of getting it just right.
HOW TO SHAKE IT
INGREDIENTS
■ 50ml bourbon whiskey
■ 10ml sugar syrup
■ A dash of Angostura bitters
■ A dash of orange bitters
GARNISH
■ Strip of orange skin (without pith)
METHOD
■ Stir sugar syrup and bitters with three or four cubes of ice for about a minute
■ Add 25ml of bourbon and three more ice cubes and stir for a couple of minutes
■ Again, add 25ml bourbon, three more ice cubes and stir again for two minutes
■ Twist the orange skin over the drink and place in glass to garnish