Old Fashioned (the Whiskey Cocktail)
The drink that defined the word cocktail: whiskey, a little sugar, bitters and water, stirred over one big cube with an orange peel, before fruit salad got muddled into it.
In May 1806 a newspaper in Hudson, New York, The Balance and Columbian Repository, printed what Wikipedia calls the first documented definition of a cocktail: spirits, sugar, water and bitters). By the 1860s and 1870s bartenders were "improving" the whiskey cocktail with curaçao, absinthe and other liqueurs, and drinkers who wanted the plain one asked for an "old-fashioned" cocktail (Wikipedia; Difford's Guide). The Chicago Daily Tribune used the term on February 15, 1880, and the first known recipe under the name was printed in Chicago in 1888 (Wikipedia, citing David Wondrich). Louisville's Pendennis Club, founded in 1881, is often called the birthplace, a claim Wikipedia says historians reject. After Prohibition, orange slices and cherries crept in, and in Wisconsin brandy replaced the whiskey; Wisconsin made the brandy old fashioned its state cocktail on November 14, 2023 (Wikipedia, citing NPR). Louisville named the old fashioned its official cocktail in 2015 (Wikipedia).
Why it works the kitchen science
Dissolve the sugar first
Undissolved sugar sinks and makes the last sip sweet; a tiny splash of water turns it into syrup that blends evenly.
One big cube
A large cube melts slowly, so the drink chills without going watery while you sip it.
Step by step
- Step 1
Method: Stirred. Put the sugar in a rocks glass, shake the bitters onto it and add the water.
- Step 2
Crush and stir with a muddler or bar spoon for 20 to 30 seconds, until the sugar has fully dissolved into a syrup.
- Step 3
Add the whiskey and stir for 5 seconds to blend.
- Step 4
Add the large ice cube and 2 or 3 small cubes, and stir for 30 seconds, until the glass is very cold.
- Step 5
Lift out the small cubes with the spoon if you like, so only the big cube remains.
- Step 6
Pinch the orange peel over the drink, skin side down, to spray its oils, rub it around the rim and drop it in.
Old Fashioned (the Whiskey Cocktail)
Serves 1 · 1 drink · 3 min total
Drink
- 1 tsp sugar, or 1 sugar cube
- 3 dashes aromatic bitters
- 1 tsp water
- 2 oz (60 ml) bourbon or rye whiskey
- 1 large ice cube (about 2 inches), plus a few cubes for stirring
Garnish
- 1 wide strip of orange peel
Method
- Method: Stirred. Put the sugar in a rocks glass, shake the bitters onto it and add the water.
- Crush and stir with a muddler or bar spoon for 20 to 30 seconds, until the sugar has fully dissolved into a syrup.
- Add the whiskey and stir for 5 seconds to blend.
- Add the large ice cube and 2 or 3 small cubes, and stir for 30 seconds, until the glass is very cold.
- Lift out the small cubes with the spoon if you like, so only the big cube remains.
- Pinch the orange peel over the drink, skin side down, to spray its oils, rub it around the rim and drop it in.
Adapted from Difford's Guide, "Old Fashioned": 2 oz (59 ml) bourbon, 12.5 ml rich sugar syrup and 3 dashes Angostura aromatic bitters, stirred with ice and strained over a large cube, with an expressed orange zest twist, and the IBA spec in Wikipedia's infobox (45 ml bourbon or rye, 1 sugar cube, a few dashes of bitters and a few dashes of water). We use the sugar cube method with 1 tsp sugar, closer to the 1806 definition, and build and stir in the glass. diffordsguide.com. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (3)
Tips
- Rye makes it spicier and drier; bourbon makes it rounder and sweeter.
- The muddled-fruit "modern" version: muddle an orange slice and a cherry with the sugar and bitters, add whiskey and ice, and top with a splash of soda. Difford's argues against it; plenty of American bars still serve it.
- Wisconsin brandy old fashioned "sweet": brandy instead of whiskey, muddled fruit, topped with lemon-lime soda (Wikipedia).
- Our math: about 1.4 US standard drinks, assuming 86-proof bourbon.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- The Pendennis Club in Louisville invented it. Disputed: Albert Stevens Crockett credited a Pendennis bartender and Col. James E. Pepper in the 1930s; historians including David Wondrich and Robert Simonson reject it, because the Chicago Tribune wrote about "old fashioned cocktails" in February 1880, before the club existed (Wikipedia).
- The 1806 definition is the first cocktail definition. Documented: The Balance and Columbian Repository, May 13, 1806 (Wikipedia).
- Muddled fruit is a post-Prohibition habit. Disputed: Difford's says fruit muddling began after Prohibition; Wikipedia says fruit garnishes arrived in the 1930s but muddling fruit became common only as late as the 1990s.
- Brandy old fashioneds started at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Folklore: Wikipedia calls the Korbel story likely false and points to post-World War II whiskey shortages.
Every other cocktail
Classic Margarita
Blanco tequila, orange liqueur and fresh lime, shaken hard and poured over fresh ice in a half salt-rimmed glass: the sour that Mexico, Texas and California all claim.
Frozen Margarita (Dallas, 1971)
The margarita as Texas made it famous: tequila, orange liqueur, lime and a little syrup blended with crushed ice into a smooth, spoonable slush, the drink a Dallas restaurateur put in a machine in 1971.
Cuban Daiquiri
The original daiquiri is not pink and not frozen: white rum, fresh lime and a little sugar, shaken ice cold and strained into a chilled coupe, the way it was made in Cuba before America put it in a blender.
Frozen Strawberry Daiquiri
How America remade the Cuban daiquiri: white rum, lime and sugar blended with frozen strawberries and crushed ice into a thick red slush, the version that came with the electric blender.
Cuban Mojito
Havana's highball: mint pressed gently with lime and sugar, white rum, a mound of crushed ice and a splash of soda, built and churned right in the glass.
Negroni (and the Americano)
Equal parts gin, red bitter aperitivo and sweet vermouth, stirred cold and served over one big cube with orange: Italy's bittersweet classic, plus the older "American-style" Americano it came from.
Manhattan
Rye whiskey, sweet vermouth and bitters stirred ice cold and served up with a cherry: New York's whiskey classic, and a famous origin story that cannot be true.
Tom Collins
Gin, lemon and sugar shaken, poured over ice in a tall glass and lengthened with soda: a sparkling lemonade for grownups, named, maybe, after a newspaper hoax.
Moscow Mule
Vodka, fresh lime and spicy ginger beer over ice in a cold copper mug: the 1940s American drink that sold a nation on vodka, and its famous mug.
Piña Colada (Caribe Hilton style)
Puerto Rico's official drink: white rum, sweet cream of coconut, a splash of heavy cream and fresh pineapple juice blended with ice, the way the Caribe Hilton shares its 1954 recipe.
Mai Tai (Trader Vic, 1944)
The real mai tai is not pink and has no pineapple juice: aged rum, lime, orange curaçao, almond orgeat and a touch of syrup, shaken and poured over crushed ice with mint and a spent lime shell.
Paloma
Mexico's everyday highball: blanco tequila, a squeeze of lime and a pinch of salt topped with cold grapefruit soda over ice, built in the glass in under two minutes.
Gin and Tonic
London dry gin and cold tonic water over plenty of ice with a squeeze of lime: the two-ingredient highball with a malaria-medicine backstory that is half history and half legend.
Virgin Mojito (Nojito)
All the mint, lime and fizz of a mojito with no alcohol at all: mint pressed with lime and syrup, crushed ice and plenty of club soda, built in the glass in four minutes.
Shirley Temple
The original American mocktail: cold ginger ale and a pour of grenadine over ice, with two maraschino cherries, the pink drink named for a child star who said she never liked it.
Meatballs of the World
Italian-American Meatballs
Big, tender meatballs braised for an hour in red sauce over spaghetti. The one most Americans grew up with.
Pallottine (Abruzzo Meatballs)
Tiny meatballs, smaller than a marble, tossed right through square spaghetti alla chitarra. No bread at all.
Swedish Meatballs (Köttbullar)
Small, soft meatballs browned in butter, in a cream sauce made from the same pan, with lingonberry jam on the plate.
Danish Frikadeller
Pork meatballs shaped with a spoon and fried slowly in butter, crusty outside and soft in the middle.
Königsberger Klopse
German meatballs that are never fried: poached, then served in a creamy white sauce with capers.
Spanish Albóndigas in Almond Saffron Sauce
The tapas bar classic: small meatballs in a golden sauce thickened with fried almonds and bread.
Mexican Albóndigas with Chipotle and Mint
Soft meatballs with rice and fresh mint inside, simmered in a smoky tomato and chipotle broth.
Izgara Köfte (Turkish Grilled Meatballs)
Small, flat meatballs kneaded hard, rested cold, and charred on a hot grill pan.
Lion's Head Meatballs
Big, soft pork meatballs, stirred into a sticky paste, fried to set, then braised in a savory sauce.
Chicken Tsukune
Japan's chicken meatball: kneaded sticky, grilled on skewers, glazed with sweet soy tare, dipped in egg yolk.