old fashioned

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Classic (whiskey) old fashioned, served on an ice ball with orange zest

An old fashioned (often also old-fashioned , from English old-fashioned for old-fashioned, traditional) is one of the most important classic cocktails . Initially called a whiskey cocktail in the 19th century , later known as an old fashioned whiskey cocktail , the short drink still largely corresponds to the original form of a "cocktail" in its original definition, ie it consists of a spirit , sugar, water or ice and cocktail bitters . In variations, crushed fruits or small amounts of other ingredients are added. An old fashioned is generally understood as a whiskey cocktail with American bourbon or rye whiskey ; Variants with other basic spirits are accordingly called Rum Old Fashioned , Brandy Old Fashioned , Tequila Old Fashioned , etc. "Old Fashioned" is a generic name for a variety of cocktails with a similar basic composition. Old fashioned are usually served in a small beaker, which is also called an old-fashioned glass .

history

Title The Balance, and Columbian Repository dated May 13, 1806, including an excerpt with the oldest definition of a "cocktail"

The forerunner of the Old Fashioned was a drink simply called a whiskey cocktail . Its recipe corresponded to what was understood as a cocktail in the United States at the beginning of the 19th century and was first defined in writing as such in 1806. According to this, a “cock tail” was a bittered sling , a modification of the well-known mixed drink Sling - consisting of a spirit , water and sugar - with the difference that a cocktail also contained cocktail bitters . A whiskey cocktail was therefore sweetened whiskey diluted with water, rounded off with a few dashes of bitters. Mixing with ice was not mentioned at the time and only spread in later decades. While the cocktails were increasingly supplemented with other ingredients, such as liqueurs, until the middle of the 19th century, thus deviating from the original definition, what one had to imagine a whiskey cocktail still seemed to be until the second half of the 19th century . Century to be unique. In his 1862 bar book How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon Vivant's Companion , one of the first of its kind, Jerry Thomas mentioned the whiskey cocktail with the following recipe based on the 1806 definition:

“Whiskey Cocktail (Use small bar glass.) 3 or 4 dahes of gum syrup, 2 do. bitters (Bogart's). 1 wine-glass of whiskey, and a piece of lemon peel. Fill one-third full of fine ice; shake and strain in a fancy red-wine glass. "

"Whiskey Cocktail (use a small mixing cup). 3–4 dashes (spritzers) gum syrup [note: sugar syrup with gum arabic ], 2 dashes Bogart's bitters [note: an aromatic bitter , no longer produced today], 6 cl whiskey, a piece of lemon peel [note: “ zest “]. Fill the blender jar a third with pieces of ice, shake it and strain the cocktail into a fancy wine glass . "

- Jerry Thomas : How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion (1862)

Similar recipes for whiskey cocktails can also be found in other publications of the time , for example in a bar book published in London by William Terrington in 1869. Both Terrington and Thomas have already mentioned several recipes for mixed drinks called “cocktails”, which deviated from the formula “spirits + water + sugar + bitters”. Their number rose again significantly in the new edition of Thomas' Ratgeber published posthumously in 1887. The whiskey cocktail with a traditional recipe is followed, for example, by an improved whiskey cocktail with maraschino and absinthe . So if you wanted the original version without liqueurs or other ingredients, you would probably soon have to add “old fashioned” to your order, which means something like “old-fashioned” or “traditionally”. Correspondingly named recipes can be found in several bar books from the late 19th century, for example in Kappeler's Modern American Drinks (1895), which contains an old-fashioned whiskey cocktail , or in Cocktails How to Make Them (1898), which, along with other variants of the Whiskey cocktails also know a whiskey cocktail – old fashioned . That was Old Fashioned (whiskey cocktail) so only a new name for the traditional (whiskey) Cocktail , because the word "cocktail" in 1890 was no longer clear: during the 19th century was a generic term from the term for a particular preparation for many different mixed drinks.

A special role in the spread of the old fashioned is often ascribed to the Pendennis Club in Louisville, Kentucky . According to a popular legend, the bartender Martin Cuneo served the first Old Fashioned there to a general named James E. Pepper in the first half of the 1890s . However, the story did not appear until many decades later, including in Albert Stevens Crocket's book Old Waldorf Bar Days , and is considered dubious.

“The Old-Fashioned: This was brought to the Old Waldorf in the days of the 'sit-down' Bar, and was introduced by, or in the honor of, Col. James E. Pepper, of Kentucky, a proprietor of a celebrated whiskey of the period. It was said to have been the invention of a bartender at the famous Pendenis Club in Louisville, of which Col. Pepper was a member. "

“[The Old Fashioned] came to the Old Waldorf at the time of the 'Sitz-Bar' and was introduced by or in honor of General James E. Pepper of Kentucky, who owned a then renowned whiskey. It is said to have been invented by a bartender at the famous Pendennis Club in Louisville of which General Pepper was a member. "

- Albert Stevens Crocket : Old Waldorf Bar Days 1935.
A "fruit salad old-fashioned" (Gary Regan)

In the 20th century, the drink, now mostly known as the Old Fashioned Cocktail or Old Fashioned for short , became a bar classic. Sometimes it was served by the bartender simply making the bittersweet mixture and serving it with a bottle of bourbon whiskey . The cocktail was especially popular during the Prohibition period, as many of the black-distilled whiskeys were barely edible without the addition of sugar and other ingredients. The high-percentage bitters were even still legally available during this time, as they were not suitable for pure consumption due to their strong flavor. Old Fashioneds have been mentioned in almost all important recipe collections since the beginning of the 20th century, for example in Harry Craddock's influential Savoy Cocktail Book from 1930. The recipe contained therein also makes it clear that it has now become common to have the cocktail directly in the guest glass, usually a beaker with a thick bottom, to "build" instead of shaking it and straining it : First you soaked a lump of sugar with Angostura and mashed it with a pestle before adding whiskey (preferably rye whiskey , alternatively brandy, gin, rum) and ice, Stirred and finally garnished the drink with lemon zest and orange slice. In 1934, Frank Meier from the Hôtel Ritz (Paris) added : “This is the old-fashioned way of making cocktails.” (This is the old-fashioned way of mixing cocktails.)

In other recipes of the 1930s, the orange slice - or just a piece of peel - was added to the drink and mashed with the sugar, sometimes other fruits such as cocktail cherries or pineapple pieces were added or the drink was lengthened with soda water , sometimes liqueur, for example add a dash of Curacao . Similar to the Martini , the Old Fashioned was also subject to constant change and was served in the 20th century both as a strongly alcoholic "old man's drink" that allowed no other ingredients besides whiskey, little sugar and some dashes bitters, and in fruity variants that let the spirit taste take a back seat and created a more “punchy” drink that was served as a traditional aperitif for Thanksgiving or Christmas in many American families . Especially in the period of the 1970s and 1980s, sometimes referred to in retrospect as the “dark age” of cocktail culture, versions with crushed fruits and other ingredients were the norm. In the course of the return to classic recipes, they are now viewed by many bartenders as frowned upon because they see in it too great a deviation from the original, while others can definitely appreciate something in a "fruit salad Old-Fashioned" .

In any case, the Old Fashioned is undisputedly one of the most important basic cocktails. David Embury made it one of only six basic cocktails (alongside Martini , Manhattan , Daiquiri , Sidecar and Jack Rose ) in his book The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, first published in 1948 ; the cocktail historian David Wondrich regards him as one of the four pillars of mixed art ("one of the four pillars of mixological wisdom").

preparation

Old fashioned with cocktail cherry and orange slice

According to the recipe of the International Bartenders Association , an Old Fashioned is mixed from bourbon or rye whiskey , Angostura bitter, a lump of sugar and some water, so the IBA largely follows the original version from the 19th century. The sugar cube is saturated with 2 dashes Angostura bitters at the bottom of a small beaker  and then dissolved in a little water. The resulting liquid is topped up with ice cubes and 4.5  cl whiskey. It is decorated with an orange slice and a cocktail cherry .

In addition to the classic (whiskey) Old Fashioned, variants with other spirits and matching bitters are widespread, although generally strong character, barrel-aged brandies such as brandy , brandy or cognac , brown rum or aged (añejo) tequila are recommended, but spirits without them can also be recommended form a distinct barrel character such as gin or young mezcal old fashioned. There are also various options for preparation, for example lump sugar, sometimes loose sugar or sugar syrup or sources of sweetness suitable for the spirit such as liqueurs , agave syrup , honey or maple syrup , the drink is sometimes first stirred in a mixing glass over ice cubes and then on fresh ice cubes or an ice ball is strained into the guest glass, and fruits such as maraschino cherries and orange slices are still occasionally added and processed.

A proponent of these fruity variants is Dale DeGroff , according to his recipe 1 teaspoon of powdered sugar or 1–2 lumps of sugar with 3 dashes of Angostura bitters, an orange slice, a maraschino cherry and some water at the bottom of an old-fashioned glass "muddled" (crushed with a pestle ) become. Then remove the fruit residue, add 2 oz. (≈ 6 cl) bourbon and ice cubes, stir and garnish with a new orange slice and a cherry.

Whether with or without fruit, characteristic of an old fashioned is always the combination of a spirit, little sugar and a few splashes of bitters, the avoidance of citrus juices and, at best, the very economical use of other ingredients. There is a great similarity to the cocktail classic Sazerac , which could also be seen as a special form of the old fashioned.

Old-fashioned glass

An old-fashioned glass (sometimes abbreviated to OF) is a small beaker; it corresponds roughly to the whiskey cup common in German-speaking countries . Traditionally it has a slightly conical shape that tapers downwards, which distinguishes it from the straighter tumbler ; today, however, the terms are often used synonymously. The name Rocks Glass is also common in the Anglo-Saxon language . Today's old-fashioned glasses usually have a slightly thicker glass bottom and hold around 6–8 (US fl.) Oz. Liquid (about 200 ml ); But there are also so-called double old fashioned glasses (abbreviated DOF) with a correspondingly larger volume.

  • Colored red in a classic conical shape (1930s)

  • Honed, with a thick bottom

  • Old-Fashioned Glass (2010s)

  • Simple shape with straight walls

Reception and trivia

In 1940 The New Yorker magazine called the Old Fashioned a “national institution”. In the same year the musical comedy Panama Hattie was premiered by Cole Porter . One song in it is called Make It Another Old-Fashioned, Please . In fact, Hattie Maloney ( Ethel Merman ) did not demand a real old fashioned: "Leave out the cherry / Leave out the orange / Leave out the bitters," ("Let the cherry away / Let the orange away / Let the bitter away") sang she and added: "Just make it straight Rye." ("Just take pure Rye .") So she just wanted a glass of sweetened whiskey.

When Harry S. Truman and his wife Bess moved into the White House as the 33rd President of the United States in 1945 , she is said to have ordered an Old Fashioned on the first evening, but found it too cute. "She and the president did not care for fruit punch" ( "You and the president do not like fruit punch "), it was then said to the White House. The next evening, the butler Alonzo Fields simply served a double bourbon over ice with hurt pride . The first lady tried and shouted: “Now, that's the way we like our Old-Fashioneds!” (“Yes, that's how we like our Old Fashioneds!”).

In the 1960 novel, Rabbit Heart (engl. Rabbit, Run ) by John Updike play old fashioned an inglorious role: they are the favorite drink of an alcoholic Janice, wife of the protagonist Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom, who later drowned her own baby in a blur. When she is introduced to the reader, she is holding an Old Fashioned in her hand. The drink symbolizes the loss of their youth, according to Eric Felten.

In the film comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad , Mad World (engl. It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World ) 1963 old fashioned lead to bolder aerial acrobatics: In the race for buried treasure charter Dingy Bell ( Mickey Rooney ) and Benjy Benjamin ( Buddy Hackett ) an airplane whose pilot ( Jim Backus ) asks Old Fashioneds during the flight: "It's the only way to fly" ("The only way to fly"). After two drinks that were too sweet for him, he wants to prepare the next round himself, leaves the control stick to the unsuspecting Benjy and disappears into the cabin: “Now I'm gonna make an old-fashioned the old-fashioned way, the way dear old Dad used to. ”(“ Now I'm going to do an old fashioned in the old fashioned way my dear old father used to do. ”) When the frightened Benjy calls after him:“ What if something happens? ”(“ And if what Happened? ”) he only replies:“ What can happen to an Old Fashioned? ”(“ What can happen to an Old Fashioned? ”). Seconds later, one of Benjy's inexperienced flight maneuvers throws him into unconsciousness, and the two treasure hunters have to land the machine on their own.

The popularity of cocktails in recent years since 2007 emitted wore television series Mad Men in which the New York plays of the 1960s and its lead actor Donald "Don" Draper is on permanent display with a glass of that drink, the one journalist from the Guardian as "No-nonsense counterpart to all those tediously long drinks full of fizz, fancy flavors and more fruit juice than your average breakfast bar" ("serious opponent of all those dreary long drinks full of fizzy drinks, imaginative flavors and more fruit juice than in your average breakfast bar") designated. The fruitless old fashioned still sticks to the image of a “male” cocktail order, while its “over-sweet, fruit-laden and [with soda] sprinkled” variants , according to The New York Times , have long been considered a drink “your grandmother drank. "

literature

  • Albert WA Schmid: The Old Fashioned. An Essential Guide to the Original Whiskey Cocktail. University Press of Kentucky, ISBN 978-0-8131-4173-2 .
  • Robert Simonson: The Old-Fashioned. The Story of the World's First Classic Cocktail, with Recipes and Lore. Ten Speed ​​Press, 2014, ISBN 978-1-60774-536-5 .

Web links

Commons : Old Fashioned  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Harry Croswell, editor of the weekly magazine The Balance, and Columbian Repository (Hudson, New York), replied to one in the May 13, 1806 issue (PDF; 7.4 MB) ( Memento of July 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Letter to the editor as follows: "Cock tail, then, is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters - it is vulgarly called a bittered sling [...]". See Anistatia Miller, Jared Brown: Spirituous Journey. A History of Drink. Book one: From the Birth of Spirits to the Birth of the Cocktail . Mixellany, London 2009, ISBN 978-0-9760937-9-4 , pp. 191ff.
  2. ↑ "Wine glass" was the usual measure in the 19th century for the preparation of mixed drinks. According to a table by Dietrich Bock ( Exquisite cocktails for private guests. Selbstverlag, Erkrath-Hochdahl 1997, ISBN 3-00-001901-4 , p. 87) it comprised 2 ounces, which corresponds to around 5 ounces according to the imperial fluid ounce customary in 1862 . 7 cl .
  3. ↑ Jerry Thomas: How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion. Dick & Fitzgerald, New York 1862, p. 50. books.google.de in the Google book search; Facsimile reprint: Ross Brown (SoHo Books), 2009, ISBN 978-1-4404-5326-7 . An expanded edition appeared in 1876, a completely revised new edition posthumously in 1887. Translation of the quote: User: Mangomix .
  4. ^ William Terrington: Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks. George Routledge & Sons, London 1869, p. 190.
  5. ↑ Jerry Thomas: The Bar-Tender's Guide or How to Mix All Kinds of Plain and Fancy Drinks. revised new edition published posthumously , Dick & Fitzgerald, New York 1887, p. 20; Full text (without illustrations) at www.artofdrink.com ( Memento of the original from March 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . German edition: Jerry Thomas' Bartender's Guide or How to Mix all Kinds of Drinks . Special edition by Beam Global Germany, the recipe section edited by Klaus St. Rainer. 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-028946-0 . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.artofdrink.com
  6. ↑ a b Robert Hess, Anistatia Miller (Ed.): The Museum of the American Cocktail Pocket Recipe Guide. 2nd Edition. Mixellany, USA 2007, ISBN 978-0-9760937-3-2 , p. 94.
  7. ↑ George J. Kappeler: Modern American Drinks: How to Mix and Serve All Kinds of Cups and Drinks. The Merriam Company, New York 1895, p. 43.
  8. ^ NN: Cocktails How to Make Them . Livermore & Knight, Providence, 1898, p. 38.
  9. ↑ The Bernheim Distillery Bottling Plant in Louisville produces a bourbon name James E. Pepper .
  10. ^ Albert Stevens Crocket: Old Waldorf Bar Days. 1931, quoted from: Simon Difford: Cocktails # 10. Odd Firm of Sin (self-published), London 2012, ISBN 978-0-9556276-2-0 , entry Old Fashioned # 1 (Classic Version) , p. 355 (English). Translation of the quote: User: Mangomix .
  11. ^ Gary Regan: The Joy of Mixology. Clarkson Potter, New York 2003, ISBN 0-609-60884-3 , p. 133.
  12. ^ A b Troy Patterson: The Old-Fashioned: It Can Be Destroyed, Perfected, Perverted. It Can Also Reveal The Depths Of Your Character. In: slate.com. November 3, 2011, accessed May 5, 2015 .
  13. ^ "Old Fashioned Cocktail" in: Harry Craddock: The Savoy Cocktail Book . Reprint of the original 1930 edition: Pavillon Books, London 2009, ISBN 978-1-86205-296-3 , p. 114.
  14. ^ Frank Meier: The Artistry of Mixing Drinks. Fryam Press, 1936, p. 35.
  15. ↑ For example in the New York Hotel Waldorf Astoria : "Oscar of the Waldorf" (Oscar Tschirky): 100 Famous Cocktails. Kenilworth Press, New York 1934, p. 29.
  16. ^ As early as 1924 in a Cuban recipe book published during the alcohol prohibition in the USA: León Pujol, Oscar Muñiz: Manual del Cantinero. Club de Cantineros (self-published), Havanna 1924, p. 27.
  17. ↑ a b c Dale DeGroff: The Essential Cocktail. The Art of Mixing Perfect Drinks. Clarkson N. Potter (Imprint Random House), New York 2008, ISBN 978-0-307-40573-9 , p. 40.
  18. ^ A b Robert Simson: Take a Sip of History. In: The New York Times . June 2, 2009, accessed May 5, 2015 .
  19. ^ A b c Gary Regan: The Joy of Mixology. Clarkson Potter, New York 2003, ISBN 0-609-60884-3 .
  20. ^ David Embury: The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks . Revised and supplemented reprint of the editions from 1948 to 1986 with a foreword by Robert Hess and an introduction by Audrey Saunders. 2nd Edition. Mud Puddle Books, New York 2009, ISBN 978-1-60311-164-5 , p. 123.
  21. ↑ Quoted from: Paul Clarke: Are You Friends, After an Old Fashioned? In: The New York Times The Opionon pages (proof.blogs.nytimes.com). January 11, 2009, accessed May 5, 2015 .
  22. ↑ Similarly, the authors of the cocktail podcast: Christoph Perner: Basically an Old Fashioned. In: cocktailpodcast.de. January 18, 2013, accessed May 5, 2015 .
  23. ↑ Old Fashioned. In: Official Cocktails of the International Bartenders Association . Retrieved July 7, 2018 .
  24. ↑ a b Stephan Hinz: Cocktail art - the future of the bar. Edition Fackelträger (VEMAG Verlags- und Medien AG), Cologne 2014, ISBN 978-3-7716-4553-3 , p. 339.
  25. ↑ Aladar von Wesendonk: 888 cocktails, long drinks and other mixed drinks for the bar at home. 5th edition. Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1968, p. 14.
  26. ↑ a b Eric Felten: How's Your Drink? Cocktails, Culture and the Art of Drinking Well. Surrey Books (Agate Imprint), Chicago 2007, ISBN 978-1-57284-089-8 , pp. 69 f.
  27. ↑ David McCullough : Truman (1992), quoted from Eric Felten: How's Your Drink? Cocktails, Culture and the Art of Drinking Well. Surrey Books (Agate Imprint), Chicago 2007, ISBN 978-1-57284-089-8 , pp. 71 f.
  28. ↑ Felicity Cloake: How to mix the perfect old fashioned. In: theguardian.com. August 20, 2014, accessed May 6, 2015 .
  29. ↑ Aaron Goldfarb: The Manliest Drink Order Alive (Eat like a Man Blog). In: esquire.com. July 26, 2011, accessed May 15, 2015 .