June 2003

Dick : Old Fashioneds are very simple drinks. They could be the first cocktails. That mix of spirit, bitters and sweetener is common in ancient bar books. Like the Sazerac, it is a rediscovered piece of history that still satisfies. Bourbon or cognac slowly combined with sugar and bitters is something that really appeals to me. It combines tradition, perfection and quality. Something I know so very well waiting for me on the bar counter. I know it takes a long time to make, but why, oh why, do all these new bartenders screw the goddamn drink up? I had one with orange juice in it the other day. You would think that in 100 years they could have got it off to pat. It doesn't need improving. Then we get onto the subject of sugar lumps... Aargh!

Tony : Lumps of sugar? Why make life more difficult? In the golden age of bartending, sugar loaf was melted down - making it a dilution. Adding one dilution to another, rather than adding a solid to a dilution, makes more sense.
Bartenders talk of artistry in making this drink with sugar cubes as if there was no artistry in making it otherwise. Undiluted sugar in this drink ruins its consistency. It takes time to make an old fashioned, but this serves to enhance the base spirit. Spirits we use are of a far better quality than in years gone by, we should be enhancing these spirits in a drink not disguising them by adding things which don't fit or don't bring out the flavours.
The concept of making things more complicated seems to be a trend at the moment, with bartenders ultimately adding ingredients which ruin the drink Why add orange or cherry, which spoils the simplicity of the drink and ruins its harmony?

Dick : So the modern bartender is erroneously trying to recreate the traditional way of making the Old Fashioned, yet making them in a way that was rejected in the past. Old Fashioneds are the drink of the revisionist; they were rediscovered in 1950's America as a taste of the pre 1900's-bartending style, which is why they are called Old Fashioneds. Straw boaters, striped blazers and parasols. All that orange skin and cherry muddling came in later when the spirits used in the 1960's and 70's were inferior mass market muck. You would need a carcinogenic cherry or two to get rid of the flavour of bad spirit. Give me a boutique bourbon and silky sugar syrup every time.

Tony : That implies the problem starts when a revision of the drink then replaces the drink in name. Variations of the drink are variations, not replacements. When the variant replaces the original is where the problems arise. You can then order a drink and get something you were not expecting! The recipe for an Old Fashioned is well known. As follows:

Ingredients:
50ml Bourbon
10ml sugar syrup
2 dash angostura bitters

Glass: Rocks

Method: In a glass put sugar & angostura.
Add an ice cube and stir.
2 ice cubes and stir
Add 25 mls bourbon and stir
2 ice cubes and stir
Add 25 mls bourbon and stir
2 ice cubes and stir

Garnish: Orange twist

Dick : All I want to do is get that drink I like how I like it, and if revisionism gets in my way I am an unsatisfied customer. Guess I'll have to make my own drinks!