Welcome To Wonkette Happy Hour, With This Week's Cocktail, The Old Fashioned!

(there is a most excellent discussion about bourbons (and how some of them cheat!!) at the link--pretty sure I have none of the offenders (we have several excellent distilleries here!), but will double check!!!)


Welcome To Wonkette Happy Hour, With This Week's Cocktail, The Old Fashioned!
In which Hooper reacquaints himself with the classic. And rants about the hucksters in the bourbon business.
Matthew Hooper
Aug 30, 2024

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Even a nice simple Old Fashioned looks so pretty up close.

Greetings, Wonketeers! I’m Hooper, your bartender, and welcome to the Labor Day weekend! Fall doesn’t *officially* start for a few weeks, and it’s searingly hot in Ohio. But there’s no reason not to start enjoying fall flavors. It might not be sweater weather, but it’s fine to enjoy pumpkin spice lattes if that’s your jam. And at the bar, it’s time to unabashedly enjoy a true American spirit — bourbon. Let’s do a deep dive into the Old Fashioned and talk through the ins and outs of this classic. Here’s the recipe:


Old Fashioned

2 ½ oz Bulleit Bourbon

½ oz simple syrup

2 dashes Angostura bitters

Add 1 large ice cube, syrup, and bitters to a double old fashioned glass, in that order, all ingredients poured over the ice cube. Pour bourbon over the ice. Stir 6-8 times with a bar spoon. Garnish with 2 Luxardo cherries and an orange twist.

It’s a short and simple recipe. I like to add the ingredients in an order and method that maximizes the chill and dilution of the drink, but it’s hard to screw this one up. If I was making this behind the stick, I’d stir it with ice and flamboyantly pour it into a chilled glass, but building an Old Fashioned in the glass at home is more than good enough.

Please regard this recipe as a template, not a finished product. Any flavor of syrup or bitters is fine. Ultimately, a good Old Fashioned is similar to a good steak. You can add a little flair to it here and there. But at the end of the day, a wise chef will simply salt, pepper, and sear a quality meat, put it on the plate, and let the beef speak for itself. The quality of the bourbon is what matters. Everything else is there to make the bourbon stay true to its nature.

. . . . . .
So let’s talk ingredients:

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Ingredient shot. This is all you need for a perfect fall evening.


Garnishes: Luxardo cherries never photograph well, but they are so very tasty. A smart bartender will replace the simple syrup with a little splash of cherry syrup from the jar of Luxardos. They’re pricey and worth every penny. The orange twist can help a sometimes-heavy cocktail feel bright and crisp. Don’t skip it.

In summary and conclusion, drink well, drink often, and tip your bartender — donate to Wonkette at the link below!

https://www.wonkette.com/p/welcome-to-wonkette-happy-hour-with-7ea