Chit Chat from a Bar Fly - The Oldest Drink - Old Fashioneds

Oh hell yes I am doing an opinion piece on Old Fashioneds. When I pitched the idea of a series of articles on drink families to Dash and the positions they hold in drink culture I had to start with this one.

I will start by leaving this here;

Here is my favourite Old fashioned recipe

2oz Bourbon (I’m not too fussy but Bulleit is my go to)
5ml (or a teaspoon) of maple syrup
2 dashes of Angostura Bitters
1 Orange disk expressed into the drink

Gather the ingredients into a mixing vessel, stir until chilled, taste and when happy strain over fresh ice. Garnish with an expressed orange and lemon twist.

Old Fashioneds have been widely accepted as one of the first cocktails. I'm not a historian, I don't intend to be. If cocktail history is of interest, you need to look out for books by David Wondrich, Robert Hess or Gary Regan. Basically the initial idea was to make the alcohol palatable. Think strong ethanol vibes. The strong spirit to hand was mixed with sugar, bitters and citrus. That's the jumping off point and yet it has all become so confusing, convoluted and sometimes pretentious. I am fully aware that I have made a pig's ear of what could have been a very high brow piece, let us wade in the mud of challenging some common tropes. 

I was told by one of my mentors that the first sip the customer has should be a little stronger than anticipated so when they get to the last sip it is utterly perfect -and ready for the next one. This is a different take on what an old fashioned should be but one that has stuck with me. So when I stir I am very aware I don’t over dilute it, because you can't take the water back out. I find this a fascinating concept, I can only apologise if you feel it is a very dull one too. People dedicate huge amounts of time distilling alcohol and the spirits we know and love and yet an ill placed piece of ice can lead to too much dilution. I once was told by a more experienced bartender (read: older) that ‘An old fashioned must be stirred for exactly seven minutes otherwise it's not an old fashioned’. He had read it in a book and repeated it to me verbatim and believed it. Well whoever came up with that theory can put it in a pipe. You try putting that into practice at a busy bar. Can you imagine a professional bartender making 8 drinks an hour? There's a story behind that seven minutes somewhere, but I’m certain it is an urban myth in order to make the drink more grandiose and mythical. What can happen if you are not careful is drag the drink towards the stuffy and snobby. Don’t worry, I won't get a nosebleed up on my high horse, because I was one of those bartenders that believed the hype. One night in service I put ‘my version’ of an old fashioned in front of a regular, after the first sip the facial expression resembled that of the green goblin. It dawned on me. I was making mistakes and not learning from them.

You see, there may be some bartenders reading this going ‘how dare you use maple syrup- it must be a sugar cube! That's the traditional recipe!’. The sugar cube thing is a massive stumbling block in technique and understanding. What happens to sugar when it dissolves with water……? It becomes a sugar syrup. So what's the harm in cutting a step out and actually making your drink more efficient AND consistent. Using science and thought to make your drinks better. You know exactly how much sugar is in your drink if you have a 1:1 or 2:1 sugar syrup to hand¹. You can replicate it the next time you are making it. What if you're making a drink for your friend/lover in order to treat/woo and they say they want it on the sweeter side? Easy my friends, increase the amount of syrup and taste. It sounds ridiculous, but by questioning a recipe's simplest ingredient you can change a drink- the margins for error can be extremely tight because there is nowhere really to hide.

This brings me onto the maple syrup thang. And you made it a thing so I feel I have to explain myself. It just so happens I like it like that. I feel it adds something to the drink, compliments the bitters, the orange and the bourbon. But the point I’m driving at is- that is how I like it. The old fashioned is a revered drink, but that is because everyone has a different take and most people who drink them KNOW exactly how they like them. They should be treated with care but also understanding. Remember as well that it's you (or your guests) that you are making them for, so make sure you like them. If not, try to think about how and why. If they are way too boozy then tail off and explore another drink, there is no harm in that either. That’s what we do, it's supposed to be fun although Dash is so bloody brutal on some of his verdicts it makes me want to cry.

That's enough chit chat for now, till next time.

Hammer

1. 1:1 Sugar syrup is made by dissolving 1g of sugar into 1g of water. 2:1 is 2g sugar to 1g water.