THE GRAND OLD FASHIONED
If you aren’t one to enjoy an Old Fashioned from time to time, what follows may not interest you. Maybe you hated Don Draper. I don’t know. But if you’re a sucker for historical rabbit holes maybe there’s something here for you. And there’s really only one way to find out.
THE COCKTAIL story
What Americans would eventually come to call a “cocktail” grew out of a group of very specific, highly specialized libations. Anyone who enjoys crafting their own drinks needs to understand the way the ingredients and execution of a proper Old Fashioned constitue the basis upon which all cocktails are constructed: i.e. Spirit, Bitters, and Sugar. The Old Fashioned is, quite literally, the soul of cocktail culture.
The first known recipe for the Old Fashioned appears to have been included in Theodore Proulx’s “Bartender’s Manual” published in 1888, on page 25 to be exact:
Old-Fashioned Cocktail No. 1
Combine in a mixing glass:
1 tsp superfine sugar
1 splash of water
Stir to dissolve.
Add:
1 to 2 dashes aromatic bitters
1 splash simple syrup, to taste
1 dash absinthe, optional
1 lemon twist
1.5 oz bourbon or straight rye
Stir with ice and and strain into a tumbler.
No doubt some will have noticed the Absinthe and immediately thought, HEY THAT’S A SAZERAC! - Bonus Points because Proulx’s recipe calls for a lemon twist as well. But in 1888 it was hard to get one’s hands on Peychaud’s and Angostura bitters. They were just finding their footing in America. Also, I doubt very many bartenders today serve an Old Fashioned with a lemon twist. Lemon twists are for Sazeracs. Everybody knows that! These days, when you order an Old Fashioned it almost always comes garnished with an orange peel. And there’s a reason for that.
I know.. I know.. CHERRIES. Always with the cherries. Just hold your horses.
We really need a solid understanding of “aromatic bitters” to have a conversation about the Old Fashioned, so let’s check in with Dr. Johann Siegert. A German surgeon in Simón Bolívar's war against Spain for Venezuelan independence, Johann started selling a proprietary aromatic bitters in 1824 as a medicinal tonic to help with stomach issues. He called it “Amargo Aromatico.” (Aromatic Bitter) A subtle blend of herbs and spices, including gentian, cascarilla bark, cardamom, and cinnamon, Siegert’s tonic boasted a lovely, intense, herbal flavor. He began selling it abroad in 1853, and moved his distillery from Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar) to Port of Spain in 1875 when his family migrated to Trinidad. Don Carlos Siegert, Johann’s son, began marketing ANGOSTURA® as an integral ingredient in cocktails, as well as food. By1888, their product was behind most of the bars in Manhattan. There are thousands of bitters on the market today, but none quite fit the bill for a genuine Old Fashioned like Johann Siegert’s original bitters recipe. Those tiny, paper-wrapped bottles with the yellow lids are everywhere. And that’s a good thing.
Interestingly enough, Proulx’s manual lists a second recipe on page 25. And yes, you guessed it! the Old-Fashioned Cocktail No. 2. But the only variation Theo adds is “1 large lump of ice.” This is somewhat telling. Basically, as far back as 1888, bartenders had already begun crafting drinks with large, solid ice “lumps.” I’ll spare you the enthusiasm for hand-crafted, crystal clear ice. But let’s just say it is one of the most sought after components in today’s Old Fashioned. And now you can tell your friends that their Old Fashioneds are actually riffs on a libation originally dubbed the Old-Fashioned Cocktail No. 2, and the original - old - Old Fashioned was served Up. Just like the Sazerac.
yeah, but WHAT ABOUT THE FRUIT?
By 1895, when George J. Kappeler published his Modern American Drinks, barmen were serving a version called the Old Fashioned Whiskey Cocktail. On page 43 of Modern American Drinks we catch a prophetic glimpse of Angostura’s dominance as the brand is mentioned by name in the recipe. The lemon twist is still hanging around, but Kappeler leaves Absinthe off the prep list. Absinthe had already begun falling out of favor well before the turn of the century. It was simply too high in alcohol - and would have certainly helped set the stage for Prohibition in the coming years. Banned in most of Europe between 1905 and 1910, and the U.S. in 1912, Absinthe simply ruffled too many feathers. Goodbye, Absinthe. For now. But what about the fruit?
I’ve met quite a few bartenders who had no idea that several early recipes called for dashes of Curaçao in addition to bitters. In fact, in 1917 Hugo R. Ensslin published his Recipes for Mixed Drinks in New York. And on page 24 we clearly see the start of a trend that persists in some quarters to this day: FRUIT. Lots of it.
I promise, the cherries are coming.
Hugo actually proposed a gin variation which replaced the whiskey with a dry gin and omitted curaçao altogether. Curaçao? Wait, what? We’ll get to that in a minute. Here’s an excerpt from page 24 of his Recipes for Mixed Drinks where he chose to start adding fruit, in addition to çuracao, to his 1917 Old Fashioned (Whiskey) Cocktail:
Add:
2 dashes curaçao
1 orange twist
1 lemon twist
1 pineapple slice
Maybe you’ve ordered an Old Fashioned at a restaurant somewhere and wondered in horror at the garnish. Well, I think we can and should blame Hugo for that. I was served an Old Fashioned in Savannah a few years ago that came with 3 cherries, a pineapple spear, a slice of lemon, and an orange peel - all on a bamboo skewer. I asked the bartender if I’d been given someone else’s drink by mistake. “Nope,” she said, “that’s how I make ‘em.” Anyway, I’m a purist. I don’t want a fruit salad in my drink.
but Çuracao?
Curaçao is a generic category for Orange Liqueur with specifically Dutch origins. It had become ubiquitous by the middle of the 19th Century, and the spirit split into two main branches just before the turn of the century. One: the brandy producers who, looking to utilize aging stocks for other means began producing “high end” curaçaos - like Grand Marnier. Yum. Two: Called “Triple Sec,” the other branch of the curaçao split came from the term for column-distilled curaçaos by such brands as Cointreau, who began producing what was then called “white curaçao.” In fact, if you ever run across recipes from the era, you’re more than likely finding calls for white curaçao in quite a few cocktails. Today, we just call it Triple Sec. But nobody puts Triple Sec in an Old Fashioned even though the old recipes included it.
I used to blame Hugo Ensslin for the fruit cocktail within the cocktail trend. But I love New Orleans, and everything about the cocktail culture there. So I picked up Stanley Clisby Arthur’s Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix ‘em (that really is the title.) If you ever needed evidence that somewhere, somehow, bartenders took it too far with fruit in an Old Fashioned, here’s the smoking gun. Published in 1937, Clisby’s monster Old Fashioned is still making waves today. I give you page 20:
OLD FASHIONED COCKTAIL
Muddle in a mixing glass:
1 lump of sugar
2 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters of Angostura Bitters
Add:
2 oz straight rye
Add ice.
Stir.
Garnish with a slice of orange.
Garnish with a piece of pineapple.
Garnish with 2 maraschino cherries.
Top with 1 barspoon maraschino cherry juice.
Garnish with a lemon twist.
Serve with a spoon.
A spoon…?!? Indeed. My guess is folks probably started asking for spoons so they could fish all the fresh produce out of their cocktails. Good Lord. Anyway, that’s probably enough of the old Old Fashioned recipes. At least I delivered on accounting for all the fruit.
At the end of the day, when it comes to matters of taste, there’s no need arguing. Folks like what they like. And if you’ve ever worked behind a bar you know this above all else: GIVE ‘EM WHAT THEY WANT. At its best, an Old Fashioned embodies simplicity in ingredients and complexity in execution. It’s a fine line, and there are millions of versions. This one is mine.