NFW: Cocktails — Old Fashioned, the first cocktail in history
The Old Fashioned is a cocktail for serious drinkers, accustomed to the strong, sumptuous and pungent taste of Bourbon whiskey. Its full name is Old-Fashioned Whiskey Cocktail and is thought to come from the fact that those who ordered it asked for an old-fashioned whiskey. In reality, its history is much more complex, but if you are interested go down to the bottom of the article. Writer Kingsley Amis called it: “the only rival cocktail to the Martini and its variants.”
And the old fashioned way would be: a lump in the glass, two drops of Angostura, a trickle of water-soda to dissolve it and then you add ice, let the whiskey slip in, stir gently and flavour it by squeezing lemon peel and garnish the cocktail.
There are no fruit juices, syrups or adjuvants such as triple sec or maraschino to sweeten the pill, just a man and his old-fashioned whiskey. It is no coincidence that during Prohibition it was customary to pound a lemon peel with sugar to disguise the defects of smuggled whiskeys.
The appearance of the Old Fashioned is minimal and uniquely elegant: it has an intriguing amber colour that hypnotises the eyes, filled with crystal-clear ice, from which a lemon or orange peel peeps out, often squeezed over the cocktail. All other garnishes such as orange slices and the classic cherries are optional and a purist would not appreciate them, so be careful not to dare too much.
This is a masterpiece with an intense flavour, enriched by the balsamic notes of Angostura against a background of the spicy taste of whiskey and the sweetness of the lump snoozing in the bottom. The glass used was named after this cocktail.
Ingredients:
Glass
Lowball
4.5 cl Bourbon whiskey
1 sugar cube
2 drops of Angostura
A dash of soda to dissolve the sugar cube
Procedure:
Put the sugar cube in a glass and drop two drops of Angostura and a dash of soda on it. With the muddler pound until the sugar is dissolved. Fill with ice and pour in your favourite whiskey which can be scotch, rye or bourbon whiskey. Stir and garnish with an orange slice, lemon peel and maraschino cherry.
Which whiskey should you use to make the Old Fashioned?
Bourbon whiskey is mainly used because it is sweeter, caramelised and buttery, perfect for creating a sumptuous harmony with Angostura, which on the other hand is bitter, aromatic and herbaceous. If you prefer a rougher cocktail, use rye whiskey, the legendary rye distillate, also American, but more assertive and austere. Another possibility is to use Scotch whisky, perhaps peaty, to give the drink a smoky and pungent touch. In short, give it a try, there is no such thing as the ultimate whisky, it all depends on your palate.
History of the Old Fashioned: when was it born and who invented it?
We are talking about a pillar of the history of mixed drinks, one of the oldest cocktails, born towards the end of the 19th century, together with the Sazerac, different in its ingredients but with which it shares the same preparation, or rather the same ritual. The cocktail was born with whiskey and is closely linked to the life and eating habits of the United States: the step from a whiskey straight up, on the rocks and with two drops of bitter and sugar is a short one. As proof of this, the first written definition of a cocktail to be found in the United States can be found in the Balance and Columbian Repository newspaper of 1806: ‘A stimulating drink, made from any distillate, sugar, water and bitter’. And it just so happens to correspond as an identikit to Old Fashioned.
If we want to talk about the first real Old Fashioned, we have to wait for the publication of Jerry Thomas’s bible, the legendary manual How to Mix Drinks or The Bon-Vivant’s Companion, although its first incarnation was known as Whiskey Cocktail and was made with two drops of Boker’s bitters, drops of gum arabic syrup and a (wine) glass of whiskey.
From then on it was a blossoming of variations, gin, cognac, sherry and garnishes and fruit began to invade the glass. The whiskey cocktail was (and still is!) a lubricant of social relationships, a time to get together and relax, before and after work. At one point it was so infamous that it came to be recommended as a morning drink, a medicinal tonic to settle the stomach, the same function also recognised in the Mint Julep, a close relative.
— — — — — — — — — — —
NFWhisky is a whisky culture eco-system dedicated to the facilitation of producing fine and unique whisky and bringing it to the world through NFTs.
Stay tuned as we share interesting news and insights about the project, the world of whisky and NFTs.
