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.
01 May 2007 at 1:07 PM 1. Sean Bigley
K-
Make sure you follow Jeff’s advice! I agreee with all the advice he gave you. From my standpoint, one of the greatest things about bartending, is the people you meet. Of course, this can also be a downside too. Not only have I made great friends across the bar, but behind the stick as well. Bartending has been great to me. I’ve travelled the world and made some really great friends. (Yes, Jeff, that means you)
My advice is if your going to do something, do it right, no matter what it is. Follow your passion. Sounds like you’re on the right track for sure. Learn all you can and remember, you NEVER stop learning.
Cheers to a successful career!
Sean
01 May 2007 at 1:09 PM 2. Sean
Jeffrey,
I’m glad you answered that question because I was just about to ask it myself.
Now to pose a different situation, I have a (short lived) food industry background, I’m a year away from graduating with my bachelors degree in marketing/management and I find myself more and more fascinated with the hospitality industry then anything else.
I’ve been working to obtain a bartending job for the past year (Since I’ve been 21, they rarely hire anyone under here) but I find that because I don’t have the practical bartending experience. Now, I have studied bartending guides, experimented with drinks and read your blog daily for some time now but I still do not get the position.
With all the bartending training sites on the internet, where is a credible bartending school at? or should I explore some proper culinary training?
Thanks
01 May 2007 at 1:41 PM 3. Jeffrey
Thanks, Sean #1! You make a great point when you say that you never stop learning. There’s so much information out there, and I find new articles, blogs and websites every day. The internet is all about the exchange of ideas and information, so always be sure to stop in here and share what you’ve learned with the rest of us!
Sean #2, I feel for you. I was fortunate enough to stumble upon bartending (I literally flipped a coin between two job offers on the same day) and I’ve never really had to pound the pavement since that day. But if you’re serious about getting in there, I might recommend this bit of advice I gave to someone in your predicament a while ago. There’s lots of great advice in the comments, as well.
Good luck, and cheers to all!
01 May 2007 at 5:35 PM 4. Lonnie Bruner
Such a sweet letter!
02 May 2007 at 10:56 AM 5. erik_flannestad
I dunno about the cooking school advice. While it never hurts to have multiple options when looking for jobs, in my experience, most cooks would make bad bartenders.
Maybe the world has changed since I last worked in food service, but, the skill sets, while slightly complementary, are a bit different.
Mostly, as a cook, you almost never have to talk to customers or handle money. You also are given a much more defined role within the organization of the kitchen. You will be responsible for the grill or salads or expediting during service, not (hopefully) all three, while talking to customers at the same time.
Cooking is very much a team sport, unlike bartending. That is to say, the kitchen staff works as a whole, much like a sports team, to a single objective. This work dynamic is very different from the mostly singular dynamic of tending bar.
02 May 2007 at 12:36 PM 6. Jeffrey
Erik, you’re right: the skill sets are a bit different, but I think that should change.
Sure, most cooks would make bad bartenders. Most bartenders would make bad cooks. But is it because the two jobs are that different, or is it really because a sort of chasm has grown between the bar and kitchen?
A lot of cooks I know would have a hard time speaking to a customer. Is that because the nature of cooking is antisocial, or is it because so many antisocial individuals have gravitated to kitchen work?
A lot of bartenders I know couldn’t prepare a meal to save their lives. Is this because bartending is really that different from cooking, or is it because the craft of working with ingredients to create something delicious has been bred out of bartenders through the proliferation of pre-made mixers, flavorless spirits and a binge-drinking mentality?
How could expediting or grill training be bad for a bartender? I know many bartenders that don’t know how to prioritize or multitask or expedite their own tickets.
When there are two or more of us behind my bar, we work together toward a single objective, much like a sports team. I encourage my staff to stay vocal and communicative (much like a good kitchen does), I encourage them not to isolate their station (much like a good kitchen does) and I train them to watch each other’s work and catch any flaws or inconsistencies before the product leaves the bar. Much like a good kitchen does.
In addition to learning these valuable skill sets in cooking school, K will also learn presentation, how to pair flavors, how to create a well-balanced dish, and how to utilize more ingredients than you and I ever thought possible.
I don’t know, but it sounds like a win-win situation to me. Any takers?
02 May 2007 at 1:43 PM 7. Natalie
Hey Jeff,
You make so many good points… and I especially like that you point out cooking classes. I could not agree more that the Master Mixologists have an understanding of what goes into creating a culinary masterpiece. We will be seeing more of that in the future.
02 May 2007 at 2:30 PM 8. erik_flannestad
Jeffrey,
It is certainly never bad to be able to cook for yourself nor to have additional career options after you graduate.
I know I couldn’t cook before I started working in restaurants.
In addition, being able to cook was the only way I could get a job after my wife and I moved from WI to CA.
I was just trying to think if I knew anyone who had ever made the transition from cook to bartender or bartender to cook.
Not being able to think of any examples, I was trying to think of why that might be.
02 May 2007 at 3:17 PM 9. Joe Bartender
I will second (or third) the recommendation for cooking training. It’s good for so many different reasons. But I guess it depends on the type of bartender you are aspiring to be. I’ve always wanted to be as well rounded and know about as many different things as possible. Knowledge of how to combine ingredients for cooking has really helped me to think about bartending more as mixology as opposed to slamming drinks.
And as Robert Rodriquez has said: Not knowing how to cook is like not knowing how to fuck.
02 May 2007 at 4:34 PM 10. K
Wow, I feel so cool that you posted that!
Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for all the help, and have fun this Saturday!
~K
04 May 2007 at 1:49 AM 11. C
Funny you should mention cooking and cocktails, I was just perusing the El Bulli menu (one can dream…) and came across these beauties:
http://www.elbulli.com/catalogo/catalogo/todo_anyo.php?lang=en&id_familia=1&id=1094
I think the latest ones are particularly interesting, wouldn’t mind tasting a couple…
08 May 2007 at 10:42 PM 12. Boy Named Sous
Hey, I have to throw in and echo your praise of the LCC Culinary Arts program — I’m a student there myself. I also agree with your advice that sych experience is good for a bartender — just as experience waiting, bussing, doing dishes, etc. is good for a cook. The dining experience is about more than the food, and even this early in my training, I’m seeing how important it is that every aspect of the guest’s experience be handled with the same care and dedication, and how dependent on each other everyone in this industry is. If the food sucks, great service isn’t going to matter, and conversely, very few cooks are good enough that people will wade through shitty service to eat their food. One of the things that has grated on me, but I’ve come to appreciate, is that they put us through front-of-the-house training in the LCC program.