Some might argue that the Old Fashioned Cocktail is woven more tightly into the fabric of Wisconsin, than cheese curds, beer, or even some certain football team. As Wisconsinites, we ceremoniously enjoy one or two Old Fashioneds after a hard week of work, ideally with close friends and fried fish.

For many, the ritual of an Old Fashioned is reserved for Friday nights in dark restaurants. On a now-long-ago camping trip, friends introduced us to another sacred space - shared experiences, and drinks, around a campfire.

The Southern Comfort Old Fashioned became our camping cocktail of choice. Southern Comfort was developed in 1874 by M.W. Heron. He set a goal of making whiskey more palatable, and achieved it by adding flavors of oranges, cherries, clove, vanilla, and honey. Just as Southern Comfort was gaining popularity, prohibition became the law and ended the progress. Heron didn’t live to see the success of his brand.

This week’s recipe - The Southern Comfort Old Fashioned

Add sugar cube, cherry, and orange into your favorite tumbler. Soften the sugar cube with cherry juice and bitters, and muddle gently together with fruit. Add in SoCo and fill to the top of the glass with ice, top off with your choice of a sweet or sour soda. Ideally enjoyed with friends around a campfire.

https://www.southerncomfort.com/our-story.html

People move to the Northwoods to relive their childhood memories - of long summer days on the lakes, family walks under the pines, and campfires well into the night. Memories that made them feel at home.

Early Wisconsinites embraced Brandy as a spirit of choice for the same reason. Brandy reminded them of brandywine, a beverage made “back home” in Germany.

We got the Chicago World’s Fair and the Korbel Brothers to thank for that!

A Proper Wisconsin Old Fashioned

In a rocks glass, muddle one maraschino cherry, one orange slice, one sugar cube, and two dashes bitters together. Add one shot of either brandy, bourbon, or whiskey. Add a generous amount of ice and top with either sweet or sour soda. Stir briefly and serve with an orange slice.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_Columbian_Exposition

Just like an unruly toddler who’s been told “no”, with the sale and distribution of alcohol now illegal, many Americans were forced to be creative in order to get what they wanted.

Thirteen years of prohibition in this country influenced how we drink, where we drink, and even what we drink.  Newly elected President Roosevelt celebrated the repeal of prohibition by mixing a Dirty Martini! 

Shhh! Canadian Whiskey was sometimes smuggled over the border - let’s use that today instead of trying the whiskey somebody made in their bathtub!

Mix ingredients in a cocktail shaker and strain into an Old Fashioned glass. Garnish with lemon and orange.

http://www.thewhiskeyauthority.com/cocktails-recipes/canadian-old-fashioned/

https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/prohibition

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition_in_the_United_States

2020 made many of us do crazy things. Me? I was so fed up one day, that I hit the “live” button and made a drink.

Come with me back to 1888, when a bartender at a saloon in Chicago cataloged his recipes in a book called The Bartender’s Manual. This is one of the first printed records of the cocktail we call the Old Fashioned.

Here’s his recipe, which may seem familiar:

In an Old Fashioned glass, take a teaspoon of sugar and dissolve with a bar spoon of water. Add a few dashes of Angostura bitters and a bar spoon of simple syrup. Twist a lemon peel over the mixture to release the oils, drop the peel into the glass. Add 2oz of whiskey and one large chunk of ice.

There was a time when this cocktail was served with a spoon to scoop out all that sugary goodness in the bottom of the glass! I think it’s about time for that tradition to be brought back, don’t you?

If you’ve come here looking for your Wisconsin Brandy Old Fashioned, don’t worry, I’ll get to it.

The Old-Fashioned, The Story of the World’s First Classic Cocktails with Recipes & Lore by Robert Simonson

Before there was the Old Fashioned, there was the Whiskey Cocktail. The Whiskey Cocktail is more or less the precursor to what we know today as the Old Fashioned. Some people call the Whiskey Cocktail “The Grandfather of Them All”.

When comparing it to today’s Old Fashioneds, particularly of the sweet and fruity Wisconsin variety, I like to think of the Whiskey Cocktail as the kind of like the “Great Aunt” of today’s Old Fashioned (you know, the one with a little bit of a mustache and the husky voice).

The first official record we have of the Whiskey Cocktail was in 1862, when a bartender named Jerry Thomas created the first cocktail recipe book called “The Bartender’s Guide - How to Mix Drinks”.

His recipe is simple:

So that’s it. That’s all there is to a whisky cocktail, no cherries, no maraschino cherry juice, no mix, no oranges, no soda or water. A far cry from some of the Old Fashioneds of today.

My apologies to Jerry Thomas, as for a while now I’ve been calling him Jeffrey. I didn’t have my reading glasses on and got his name wrong - and perpetuated the error ever since! I think I’ll make a Whiskey Cocktail in his honor - cheers, Jerry!