ABOUT

The Old Fashioned is a cocktail made by muddling sugar with Bitters and water and then adding Whiskey, garnished with a slice of fresh orange or zest and a cocktail cherry, which is traditionally served in a “rocks” glass.

A BRIEF HISTORY

The Old Fashioned was one of the simpler earlier versions of what was to become a cocktail prior to the development of bartending techniques and advanced cocktail recipies of the 19^th century.

The first documented definition of the word cocktail was seen in 1806 in an issue of the “Balance and Columbian” when the paper’s editor wrote that it was a potent measure of spirits, bitters, water and sugar, it was also at the time referred to as a “Bittered Sling” which effectively followed the same recipe as The Old Fashioned.

By the 1860’s it was common for Orange Curacao, absinthe and other sweet liqueurs to be added to the cocktail. As the cocktails became more complex customers longing for something a little simpler began asking bartenders for something a little more stripped back, like cocktails of old, referred to as the Old Fashioned.

The most favoured Old Fashioned cocktails were made with Whiskey, with Rye being the most popular.

The Pendennis Club in Kentucky claims the Old Fashioned to be invented there, with the recipe said to have been concocted in 1881 by a bartender in honour of Colonel James E Pepper, a Bourbon distiller who later bought the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York.

However theorists shoot this claim down as the fist mention of Old Fashioned cocktails were first mentioned in print in 1880, prior to the Pendennis Club being open.