Latest Drink Recipe
In my opinion, one of the greatest triumphs of the cocktail renaissance is the rediscovery of the classic Old Fashioned. I’ve often spoken of how at some point after the repeal of Prohibition, the Old Fashioned became lost and possibly confused with a long-forgotten drink called a Smash (basically a tarted-up Mint Julep covered in fruit), a mere husk of its former, glorious self.
For decades, bartenders just like me served a limp, weak concoction consisting of a half-muddled sugar cube, a mashed-up neon red cherry and orange, a splash of whiskey, and some soda water drowning the results.
With a little luck, and a lot of hard work, that’s all changed with the renewed interest in classic cocktails. Now at any given night at my bar you can find literally a dozen people sipping on two ounces bourbon touched with a teaspoon of sugar and two dashes of bitters, garnished with a simple orange twist over a couple big ice cubes.
But don’t try to pull that bullshit with the good people of the Great State of Wisconsin, where the Brandy Old Fashioned rules supreme. It’s not the same drink as above, it just shares a name. And if you make it right, really right, it’s a damn delicious cocktail and worthy of examination.
Being located in a hotel, we’re used to serving folks from all over the world. And the first time I witnessed a guest from Wisconsin stare blankly as one of my bartenders handed over two ounces of Cognac touched with a teaspoon of sugar and two dashes of bitters and garnished with a simple orange twist over a couple big ice cubes, I knew some further training was in order.
So in the name of making cocktails – all cocktails – with as much of our hearts as we can offer, I present to you what I believe to be the perfect Brandy Old Fashioned… Wisconsin-style.
I start with an old fashioned glass I’ve chilled in the freezer. Call it a tumbler, call it a double rocks glass, or call it a bucket, it’s a glass you’re familiar with. To that I add two dashes of Angostura bitters and a teaspoon of sugar. If I’m in a hurry I use a 2:1 simple syrup, but if I’m going to spend some time, I use a sugar cube. The sugar cube is preferable here because it’s going to add some friction to the muddling we’re about to do. Brace yourselves, cocktail “nerds”.
Next I’ll take a thick-cut orange wedge, and a cherry. The usual suspect here is a grocery store maraschino cherry, but I always choose a brandied Amarena cherry. Remember, you’re going to get out what you put in, so a quality cherry is going to make the drink that much better.
I muddle the sugar, bitters, orange wedge and cherry into a thick paste, careful not to touch the orange peel too much as it’ll bring unwanted bitterness to the party – just work around the peel and pulverize that orange meat.
Your standard Brandy Old Fashioned brandy of choice is Korbel: cheap California brandy. Considering the hundreds of thousands of cases they ship to Wisconsin every year, it might be considered sacrosanct to use anything else. But if you want to do this right, really right, then do yourself a favor and use some good Cognac. I have my preferred brandy, you have yours.
At this point your typical Wisconsinite barkeep is going to add ice and finish the drink in one of two main ways: sweet or sour. Those who take it sweet will ask for a splash of Sprite or 7-Up, those who take it sour get a dose of Collins Mix or Squirt. To me, it’s just a way of watering down the drink, so I leave out the soda and take a more… cocktail-y method.
Crushed ice is a must for me whenever I whip up a Brandy Old Fashioned. I always skip the soda and let the tiny shards of ice do the work, taming those strong, sweet flavors and turning this into a drink you can sip slowly.
As for a garnish, most will throw a “flag” of an orange wedge and a cherry spiked through with a wooden toothpick, but my take here is that those things are already in the drink, so I skip ‘em. Besides, how pretty does that look without the goofy fruit salad perched over the top?
You know, it’s something to enjoy sipping on while you cook up some bratwurst and onions in a boiling kettle of beer before everyone comes over to watch the Packers game. Drink accordingly.
Brandy Old Fashioned
1 sugar cube or 1 tsp 2:1 simple syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1 orange wedge
1 cherry, preferably Amarena or Maraska
2 oz brandy or Cognac
In a chilled old fashioned glass, muddle the sugar, bitters, orange wedge and cherry into a thick paste, careful not to work the orange peel. Add brandy or Cognac, stir, and fill glass with crushed ice and serve.
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About Me
My name is Jeff Morgenthaler and I'm the bar manager at Clyde Common in Portland, Oregon.
I've been tending bar since 1996 and writing about it since 2004. I started tending bar while getting my degree in Interior Architecture, and slowly I came to the conclusion that bartending was what I really loved, and that I might as well drop everything and focus on being a professional bartender. Over the years I have strived, both behind the bar and with this website, to elevate the experience of having a drink from something mundane to something more culinary.
The writing I do here is intended as a work in progress. My recipes are like my opinions: they are constantly being revised and refined as I work them through my mind and my fingers. Comments and participation are encouraged, so please don't feel the need to tread lightly here.
26 Oct 2007 at 4:11 AM 1. Darcy
Good letter. I know the Grey Goose cap seal has ripped apart my fingers a few times. I think it is because of Grey Goose that I turned part of my bar kit bag into a first aid kit.
Liquid Bandaid does wonders, plus it won’t slip off your wet fingers into the ice bin or someones drink.
26 Oct 2007 at 6:50 AM 2. Rick
I’ve experienced this medieval torture with the Bacardi 8 bottle as well.
26 Oct 2007 at 7:30 AM 3. Scottes
Sometimes I wonder if these companies ever try their products before shipping them. I’ve run into many odd bottles of rum – sometimes they’re not easily poured, sometimes the caps always crack, sometimes they have little inserts that just won’t allow the spirit out of the bottle. Please! Try your product before shipping it out!
26 Oct 2007 at 8:06 AM 4. Jimmy
Good post! I have run into many bad bottles, but the Goose takes the cake. That pointy little thing where you start ripping the foil off cuts my finger UNDERNEATH my fingernail every time. Maybe I should learn and just not open the next one?
26 Oct 2007 at 10:37 AM 5. Keith
I’ve found that the metal seals on some bottles can just be pulled straight off the top of the bottle. I do this with most wine bottles, but even scotch or whisky bottles work. Sometimes the cork will come with it, but it’s much easier (and less injury prone) to pull the excess metal off just the cork. I really don’t enjoy vodka, so I can’t vouch for the ability to do that with a Grey Goose bottle.
26 Oct 2007 at 3:57 PM 6. Dominik MJ
The procedure, what Keith just commented is working with Grey Goose as well (it is more difficult as it is a bit of a show of strength…) – however you don’t even need to get the cork out of the cap – because you still have the old cork of the old bottle, right?
I am also sometimes annoyed by the packaging design (e.g. I normally pull of directly all caps – but sometimes there is paper which is glued over the cap – so the new bottle looks directly like crap; or the plastic “pour sprouts” on many bottles (Bols) which you first have to remove, before you can use a normal pourer; several years ago I hurt myself, while removing one of this caps with a knife – so I had to go to hospital…).
Why don’t you file a suit?
Cheers!
Dominik MJ
26 Oct 2007 at 7:16 PM 7. dclark
sorry ’bout your hand, maybe this story will cheer you up!
http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/wayoflife/10/26/mf.drinking.storries/index.html
28 Oct 2007 at 12:16 AM 8. sarah
TOTALLY! Whenever i make it past the wine foil with no injury the Grey Goose is there to humble my poor hand. thanks for pointing it out maybe we should get a petition?
28 Oct 2007 at 11:38 AM 9. Steve the Liquor Store Guy
I’m too poor to have much experience with Grey Goose, but even I know about the hazards involved with opening that bottle.
Is there any real benefit to using a cork with top-shelf vodka? Or is it just a superficial way to make your bottle look fancier?
29 Oct 2007 at 12:03 AM 10. david shenaut
Thank you for speaking on this subject. When pouring vodka it seems that speed is the formost concern of my client(who prefers a low cal-tasteless spirit). My hands have been greatly mis-treated by the goose. Therefore, I’ll often offer the super premium with the screw top knowing that the goose is getting low.
29 Oct 2007 at 12:28 AM 11. Jamie Boudreau
I’m with Keith. ALL spirit bottles and wine by the glass bottles get the ultra-quick heave-ho without having to deal with cut hands.
But, please, sue the Goose, for making a product as painful to get at as to drink.
29 Oct 2007 at 12:41 AM 12. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
I also practice the ultra-quick heave-ho on all liquor bottles and wines by the glass, but every once in a while I’ll come across a stubborn specimen and have to resort to more traditional methods.
Other bottles you love to hate, folks?
29 Oct 2007 at 5:19 PM 13. Booze Dummy
Patron. I hate that squat little square bottle that is twice as thick as it needs to be. It nearly takes two hands to pour the damn thing and when close to full, 6 ounces seems to end up all over the bar instead of the glass.
29 Oct 2007 at 6:21 PM 14. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
True, and you can’t get a speed-pourer into a Patron bottle without leakage.
One of my personal pet peeves is cheap metal twist-off caps whose threads strip, leaving me to break out some sort of knife and cut the whole damn thing off.
Also, Hendricks gin, while packaged in a lovely bottle, has such a small neck that it is nearly impossible to retrieve my metal speed pourers from a spent bottle.
30 Oct 2007 at 11:36 AM 15. Booze Dummy
How about Galliano? Now there’s a real treat. Not only is it delicious, but it’s packaged in such a convenient bottle. Any bottle 3 frikkin’ feet tall fits so well on my shelves…
But, we can’t NOT stock it, because without that wonderful elixir, cocktail masterpieces like the Baywatch, Freddy Fudpucker, Dirty Orgasm, Italian Screw, Urine Sample, and the Virulent Death (all taken from WebTender) would be impossible to create.
Do I sound a little bitter???
30 Oct 2007 at 11:41 AM 16. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
Before someone jumps on this, Booze Dummy, I’ll point out that Galliano does come in relatively-convenient 375 mL bottles that should fit on your shelf.
My only problem with Galliano is that by the time you’ve finished a bottle, the pour spout has been cemented to the glass by a thick, yellow epoxy that requires placing the whole contraption in the dishwasher in order to remove it!
30 Oct 2007 at 12:18 PM 17. Smach
Maker’s Mark. I hate using my teeth to open a bottle. Whaddayagonnado?
02 Nov 2007 at 8:48 AM 18. Dr. Bamboo
It’s stories like this that remind me why I drink gin. ;-)
09 Nov 2007 at 10:57 AM 19. cristina
We take off the foil completley with a wine key prior to the when we open. Those silly boys I work with make balls out of the foil to hurl at one another. Ouch!
13 Nov 2007 at 7:45 PM 20. Darryl
I don’t like all the sugar that gathers under the cap of the Cointreau bottle. But other than that, no metal seal horror stories of my own yet.
On the other side of the coin, how about GOOD bottle/cap design? I like Absolut’s cap the best. It feels thick and hefty. It screws easily. There’s no damn sealant glue or metallic wrap or cork. As for bottle design, I think few can beat Skyy vodka for pure pretty.
20 Nov 2007 at 3:48 PM 21. Sven-Olaf Hansen
Dear Jeffrey
Many thanks to you and your colleagues for bringing to our attention your experiences removing the foil cap and cork on bottles of Grey Goose vodka.
Please be assured that we value all feedback such as yours and I am very pleased to advise you that with immediate effect we have taken two steps to improve the quality of the foil cap on 750ml and 1 litre bottles. Firstly, we have increased the width of the tear-band itself to make removal easier and secondly we have lowered the position of the tear-band to reduce the risk of cut fingers on the foil when removing the cork. We are also currently looking into the feasibility of rounding off the lead edge of the tear-band to reduce the risk of the foil cutting under the fingernail.
I hope that these actions help to reassure you that we are continually looking at ways in which we can improve the design of our bottle and foil cap and will continue to do so.
Many thanks for all your support and I hope that with these new improvements you will continue to recommend Grey Goose to your customers now and in the future.
Many thanks
Sven-Olaf Hansen
Global Brand Director
Grey Goose vodka
18 Aug 2008 at 3:17 AM 22. zumctwis lpewamb
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23 Oct 2008 at 10:17 PM 23. Evan
I just stumbled across this post while browsing the site and Once again you nailed it! I have had a few bad times with grey goose(getting that foil jammed underneath your finger nail while behind the bar is always great). But there are many bottles I don’t like. When it comes to getting the speed pourer out of the bottle, Finlandia and Pearl come to mind as being a couple of the worst and then of course all those sticky liqueurs. Tequila gets my vote for overall trickiest bottles to pour out of, as mentioned before Patron as well as Aha Toro, Corzo and my least favorite bottle Cazadores. I have nearly ripped my hand off opening one of those and top of that, Cazadores has one of those stupid always clogging guards on it.
26 Sep 2009 at 4:11 AM 24. Warren
Really? Are you kidding me? How long have you been bartending? Two weeks? Maybe a month? Was that your first bottle of Goose that you opened?
It’s a seal over the cap made from LEAD – yes, the very soft metal that is far easier to twist off than it is to find the pull tab. The same stuff found on many wine bottles. I have opened Goose bottles for over a decade and I have NEVER tried the Pull Tab. It’s just the most stupid thing on the top of a liquor bottle.
Keep in mind that they put the Pull Tab on the bottle to confuse stupid people – just pull the whole thing off w/o wasting the time to find the tab (unless your bar is LOW volume – in which case you have time to clean instead – Time to Lean = Time to Clean; Time to find the Goose Pull Tab = Time to Lean = Time to Clean)…
(The french think differently – they look for different solutions, and not always efficient solutions…)
With a soft grip around the neck of the seal – twist back and forth a few times and then twist/pull off. Never touch their Pull tab – just get all of the lead seal off because it doesn’t belong there anyway.
–
I have to ask – do you have trouble with Absolute bottles too?
For those just grasp the bottle cap above the neck, twist as if the plastic wrapper isn’t there, when cap free of top, torque it to the side and the plastic seal separates at it’s perferations – you don’t need to look for the pull tab a the top. It’s a 2 second open that I’ve seen people struggle with…
Warren
P.S. Evan – Cazadores’s built in pourer just sucks. Mexican engineering just isn’t there yet. If you’re pouring it neat – knock the top of the bottle into the bottom of your glass – otherwise put the cap back on and knock that on the bar until it starts to pour again. It’s a good selling tequila though for us – too bad the Mexican’s aren’t yet smart enough to package things for American bars, Patron can kiss my ass – not the best tequila and one of the worst bottles to pour from. F$#@ing give me a speed pour that fits with every case I order (or stop advertising so I can free up back bar real estate…)
19 Jan 2012 at 2:12 AM 25. Sam Skaaf
As a Bartender, I’m 43 years old working a union gig, I just got off working an 8 hour shift here in LA….so yeah I agree, and give you a thumbs up.