Have you ever walked into an unfamiliar bar and ordered an Old Fashioned, only to receive a cocktail with the liquid brimmed-to-the-top of the glass, and the visual of a completely-diluted iced tea? I have experienced this in dive bars, music venues, and even small chain restaurants that claim to have a whiskey expertise. As a woman, I suppose I could carry some bitters and a bit of sugar in my purse to remedy these situations. After all, I have on occasion carried a travel Chamoy and Tajin kit in my handbag for my Modelo’s. Another fix is to ask the server, or bartender directly, “Please don’t add any water to my Old Fashioned,” but I do feel a little rude spelling it out like that. So I keep that in my back pocket for bars that have already served me a water-logged cocktail. I have even asked a server, “does your bartender add water to the Old Fashioned?” They are usually quite helpful and will actually go ask a bartender for me, then return and say, “Yes, just a splash.” So, a splash is perhaps the real problem here? What do you suppose a splash really is? A bar spoon? Topping off to the rim of the glass? Something in between?
I don’t expect a perfectly-stirred -for-20-seconds-over-large-cubes cocktail in a dive bar. I am happy to have it made in the glass it’s served in, and the lower the cost, the more likely it’s made with an 80 proof well whiskey, which in my opinion, is already diluted for serving. It’s the extra “splash” that leaves me with a disappointing whiskey flavored water, and then full of regret for not trying to stop this from happening in the first place, even at the risk of sounding rude. Is this how seltzers were invented? Did someone actually say, “Hey, I have an idea for a canned cocktail”?
At a proper dive bar, I will receive a perfectly acceptable Old Fashioned with no added water, whiskey built in the serving glass, bitters, sugar (probably from a packet), a piece of orange peel, and a cheap maraschino cherry. This is fine, and just what I expect in context. It’s the semi-craft bar that uses a better whiskey than a dive well, bitters, simple syrup, expressed orange peel, and maybe a fancy cherry, but also adds water from the gun, which sends me out of my mind! As soon as the cocktail is placed front of you, immediately you question the light color, and then what do you do? School them on how to make one of the easiest cocktails in existence? Or just smile and say thank you, then order a beer? I guess this brings me back to the travel size Chamoy and Tajin in my purse, since I’m not much of a beer drinker, until I doll it up. If I’m lucky, I might see a decent pour on the bar shelf, but better ask for it neat, I mean “straight-up.”
For the secrets and magic behind a great Old Fashioned, here you go: Use a whiskey that you would be happy to consume neat. Be sure it is 90-100 proof. Secure a bottle or two of bitters. Make or buy a rich simple 2:1 syrup. Have a fresh orange handy, and ice. You can keep it simple, or elevate from here with Luxardo cherries, specialty syrups, exotic flavor bitters, massive clear ice, and maybe smoke the glass or cocktail itself. And while it’s true that many Old Fashioned recipes do call for a single teaspoon of water, the proof of the whiskey in the recipe is not mentioned, so I believe it to be a flawed set of instructions.
Make an Old Fashioned Cocktail
2 oz Bourbon
1 tsp Rich Simple Syrup (2:1, cane sugar to water)
2-3 dashes Angostura Bitters / Regan’s Orange Bitters
Fresh Orange Peel
Add all liquid ingredients to a mixing glass, fill halfway with ice, then stir for 20 seconds, until well-chilled. Strain over ice in a rocks glass. Express the orange peel over the top of the cocktail, and run it around the rim of the glass, then drop in in the cocktail.
I enjoy 1 dash of Angostura bitters and 2 dashes of Regan’s Orange bitters together. Perhaps a rye whiskey, and then maybe lemon peel if you like. Also, a light smoke of the cocktail glass when the mood strikes me (if you have the tools).
Enjoy!
