#001 - Old Fashioned
An exploration on why every bartender thinks they make the best one.
When thinking about what I wanted to write about for this publication, the last thing I wanted to highlight was the Old Fashioned. Why? Why beat up a drink that so many bartenders (talented ones at that), have already waxed poetically about? 4 ingredients right? Spirit, sugar, bitters, water. Done.
So why do people still fuck this drink up?
I’ve come to realize that perhaps bartenders and home mixologists aren’t inherently making an Old Fashioned cocktail poorly, rather, their taste is different from mine. Objectively speaking though, I’ve seen some pretty horrific Old Fashioned cocktails in my time.
If you search YouTube, there’s countless videos on how to make “The Perfect Old Fashioned.” Here are some YouTubers who have a recipe for an Old Fashioned that I think are worthwhile:
Anders Erickson (YouTube: Anders Erickson)
I’m not sure who Anders is but according to his profile, he has been professionally bartending for 20 years. I’m sure in that time, he’s managed to develop what he thinks makes a great Old Fashioned. Anders’ recipe relies on a quarter ounce of a rich demerara syrup (2:1) as his sweetener, 4 healthy dashes of Angostura Bitters straight from the bottle, a tiny slice of orange, and 2oz of Colonel E.H. Taylor Small Batch Bourbon. He combines the ingredients in a mixing glass, adds ice to chill and dilute the drink, strains into a rocks glass, and finally garnishes it with an orange twist and cherry. It’s not my favorite technique and his measurements are not my preferred, but I bet if I received this at a bar, I probably wouldn’t complain too much about it; and if you’ve ever sat with me at a bar, you know I’ll find any reason to grumble under my breath. Recipe found here.
Leandro Di Monriva (YouTube: Educated Barfly)
A veteran Los Angeles bartender turned into a quasi-cocktail historian on YouTube, Leandro has one of the nerdiest channels (in the most endearing way) on YouTube. Besides recipes, Leandro almost always gives a history lesson on cocktails but is also kind enough to provide time stamps for viewers who just want to get to the good stuff. Leandro worked at an L.A. institution known as Cole’s for several years and has cemented what he thinks a proper Old Fashioned is. 1 white sugar cube as the sweetener, 1 bottle cap of soda water to dissolve the sugar, 4 dashes of Angostura Bitters out of a Yarai Dasher, and 2oz of Rittenhouse 100 Proof Rye Whiskey. He builds everything in the glass that it is being served in because the Old Fashioned is what is considered a “built cocktail.” He muddles the sugar with soda water and bitters to form a little paste at the bottom of the glass, adds the booze, adds a gigantic block of ice, gives it a couple of stirs, garnishes it with an orange & lemon twist, and a luxardo cherry. There’s this lore in the bartending community about the sugar cube and certain bartenders insist that it’s the only way to make the perfect Old Fashioned. I’ll dispel that myth momentarily. As far as Leandro’s recipe goes, this is my preferred technique but not my preferred means to sweeten the drink. If you’re ever fortunate to be served an Old Fashioned by Leandro however, keep your opinions to yourself - trust me. Recipe found here.
What I really enjoy about Anders and Leandro’s approach to the drink is that they both say something to the extent of, “Hey this my preferred way to make this drink. It is not the end all be all of this cocktail. Ask other bartenders and they may tell you something different.” I love that. There’s a level of honesty and humility when people can say something like that during a video tutorial because other bartenders can be a little more rigid in their approach - like the ones that insist on the sugar cube. Here’s why the sugar cube bartenders are wrong. The reasoning I hear often from the sugar cube gang is that the cubes offers a precise measurement of sugar 100% of the time where as a bartender using a type of syrup can over/under measure the sweetness and throw off the balance of a drink. In a perfect world, every bartender is hitting their jigger measurements precisely every single time they make cocktail. Hate to break it anyone reading this, the world is not perfect. We fuck up almost nightly. We forget sugar in our Pisco Sours, we leave out the Gin in a Negroni, and most certainly, we fuck up Old Fashioned’s all the time. The idea that a sugar cube somehow solves the problem of accuracy is built on a premise that the bartender is incapable of making a mistake. It’s flawed. Even if you were a World Class bartender, my guess is that if you’re in the service well and you’re in the Sugar Cube Gang (this is going to catch on I’m sure), you’re very likely shorting your jiggers or adding an arbitrary amount of soda water to your sugar paste concoction. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe that’s why I’m not World Class.
The fun part about writing this is that at some point, I have to write about how I make an Old Fashioned. And the best thing about this being a publication for everyone to read is that someone is going to disagree with me. And that’s okay; I can live with the fact that someone is going to send me a mean message because my punctuation and grammar suck and to top it off, my Old Fashioned spec is garbage. I’ll live.
Here’s a recipe I currently enjoy:
1 Tsp rich demerara syrup*
3 Dashes of Aromatic Bitters**
.25oz Pinhook High Proof Bourbon
1.75oz Old Grand-Dad Bonded Bourbon
Build in a rocks glass over a big rock
Stir 7 times
Garnish with an Orange and Lemon Twist
Sip slowly or fiercely
*Rich demerara syrup - By weight, measure two parts demerara sugar to 1 part hot water. I like to cook under very very low heat until the sugar dissolves. Some prefer to sous vide their rich syrups and add gum arabic but I don’t have time for that.
**Aromatic Bitters - Currently I enjoy blending 3 parts Angostura Bitters to 1 part Bittermens Transatlantic Modern Aromatic Bitters. I just combine them in a jar, mix well, and then pour them back into the Angostura bottle. I like to dash straight out of the bottle because I can’t afford fancy Yarai dashers.