Chapter Eight: New Fashioned is Now!

Old Fashioned (muddled)

By 1915 or so, even the Old-Fashioned had begun changing; this is the version most people know today. Be very conservative with the water at the end.

2 ounces Bourbon
3 Dashes Angostura Bitters
1 Tsp. bar sugar
2 orange slices
2 maraschino cherries
splash water or soda

Muddle carefully in the bottom of an old fashioned glass the sugar, Angostura, one orange, one cherry, and a splash of soda.  Remove the orange rind and add Bourbon, ice, and soda or water.  Garnish with a fresh orange slice and a cherry.

New Fashioned Old Fashioned

Yes, I know we offered a stalwart defense for the Old-Fashioned guy, with his bitters, sugar cube and heavy dose of whiskey. But times have changed and so we must respect his metrosexual grandson’s gustatory preferences.

Orange slice and (gawd!) marinated cherry – but first read our disclaimer below*
1 sugar cube or 1/2 teaspoon loose sugar
2 dashes Angostura bitters
2 ounces straight rye or bourbon whiskey
Flag – a toothpick skewering both half orange slice and marinated cherry

*Please, please, we beg you on bended knees, no maraschino cherry! Not that horrid little sugar bomb of unnatural, hallucinogenic color. We recommend instead buying some frozen black cherries and dumping them into a jar with a reasonable brandy and letting those stew and simmer, or as much simmering as can happen in your frig over a series of days or even weeks.

Muddle (that is, crush with a grinding motion using a wooden muddler) the sugar with 1 teaspoon of soda water and the Angostura bitters in a heavy-bottomed Old Fashioned class until the sugar dissolves, along with the orange slice and marinated cherry. Add the whiskey and stir briefly; add 2 or 3 ice cubes and stir some more; drape with the flag.

Improved Holland Gin Cock-Tail

In Gangs of New York-era Gotham, if there was one drink the sporty gents in the top hats were partial to, it was a Gin Cock-Tail. It’s not hard to see why: with Dutch-style genever gin, which was enormously popular in the day, the drink is rich, spicy, sweet, and mellow—and thoroughly delicious. The botanicals in the genever tend to hide behind the bitters, letting its wonderfully malty body shine forth. This “improved” version dates to 1876.

2 ounces Bols genever gin
1 teaspoon rich simple syrup
1 teaspoon maraschino liqueur or Grand Marnier
2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
To finish: lemon peel
Sprig of mint (optional)

Combine in an Old Fashioned glass, stir, and add ice; stir again, twist lemon peel over the top, and add a sprig of mint if you’ve got it.

Sherry Cobbler

Back in the days of Dickens and Twain, the Sherry Cobbler was a transatlantic favorite—a light, mellow, and thoroughly delicious slow-sipper that was distinguished from other beverages by its being consumed through a straw. Now that was something new. Time has accustomed us to the straw and disaccustomed us to the Sherry Cobbler. Pity.

1 slice orange
3 ounces amontillado sherry
1 1/2 teaspoons rich simple syrup
To finish: berries in season

Cut the orange slice in two. Shake one half of the orange slice together with the sherry and simple syrup and strain into a tall tumbler full of cracked ice; garnish with the other half of the orange slice and the berries. Add straw.

Delancey

Just about the earliest reference to the consumption of vodka on these shores comes in Moses King’s 1892 Handbook of New York, where he mentions that it is consumed in the Russian quarters of town. This drink is a tribute to those pioneers, marrying as it does vodka with the best nineteenth-century mixological science has to offer. A vodka Old-Fashioned, in other words. Delancey Street was the main drag of the old Russian Lower East Side.

2 ounces vodka
1/2 teaspoon rich simple syrup
1 dash orange bitters
1 dash Peychaud’s bitters
To finish: lemon peel

Stir in a chilled Old Fashioned glass; add ice and twist lemon peel over the top.

New Old Fashioned

Ryan Demonstrates How To Make a New Old Fashioned.

New Old Fashioned
In mixing glass add;
1 sugar cube
2 maraschino cherries
1 orange slice
4-5 dashes of Angostura Bitters
Muddle thoroughly
2 oz of Bourbon
Add ice and top of with club soda
Stir lightly
Garnish with orange and maraschino cherry

Clover Club

Ryan Demonstrates How To Make a Clover Club.

Clover Club
Strain 1 Egg White into mixing glass
1.5 oz of London Dry Gin
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Raspberry Syrup
1/2 oz Simple syrup
Dry Shake for 20-30 seconds
Add ice and Shake for 30 Seconds
Strain into cocktail glass
*optional – put in mint leave before shaking (Clover Leaf)

Recipes reproduced from “Killer Cocktails” by David Wondrich