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.
16 Jun 2011 at 9:34 AM 1. Short_Carl
THANK YOU! It’s stuff like this that reinforces for me that you are among the best, sir. I was just looking for this sort of thing for our new restaurant and i’ll be damned if this isn’t the simplest and most concise formula i’ve found out there so far. Keep up the good works and please blog more, we miss you!
16 Jun 2011 at 9:45 AM 2. Heather
Out of random interest, do you have a bottom percentage you’ll consider on a loss leader? If you thought it would be a good drink for publicity/traffic would you accept 15%? 10%?
I always wonder that when I see exotic ingredient $15 cocktails – because they can’t really be making much (any) profit on it.
16 Jun 2011 at 9:52 AM 3. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
Heather
In the world of pour cost, the lower the percentage, the better. So if you’ve got a 10% pour cost on a drink, that means it cost you $1 to sell a $10 cocktail.
So to answer your question, it depends on the drink and depends on the rest of the program. the most expensive loss leader I’ve had on my current list was around 35%, but that doesn’t mean much out of context.
16 Jun 2011 at 10:25 AM 4. Bruce Tomlinson
Well done. Real world info for real world Barkeepers.
16 Jun 2011 at 11:30 AM 5. Jared
Jeff, thanks for the great post – informative and interesting!
You mentioned the loss-leading aspect of some complex drinks, but do you also take into account the amount of time it takes to make the drink? We have a couple drinks on our menu that take longer to make than say, a daiquiri or Negroni, and consider it “OK” to price it slightly higher than comparable drinks of similar base cost but shorter execution time.
What do you think?
16 Jun 2011 at 11:34 AM 6. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
Jared – Of course it’s important to take that into account, but there’s really no way (or point) of quantifying that in this spreadsheet.
16 Jun 2011 at 11:44 AM 7. PaulTheGreek
Miss you Jeffrey !!!were you have been lost !!! Please blog more !! :)
16 Jun 2011 at 12:02 PM 8. PaulTheGreek
Can you please explain the target pour cost.what you mean ?thank you
16 Jun 2011 at 12:34 PM 9. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
Paul – It’s the pour cost that you’re looking to come in at. If you’re unsure what this is, ask your boss or bookkeeper; the industry standard usually lies somewhere between 18% and 24%.
16 Jun 2011 at 12:48 PM 10. Geof Anderson
Thanks Jeff, and yes, I am very interested in this boring topic.
16 Jun 2011 at 1:16 PM 11. Jake
Love this post for the fact that it explains to the average bar patron that cost isn’t simply based off the price of the product. Energy costs, insurance costs, labor costs, etc. are often not considered by average consumers when they “judge” the cost of a cocktail. Wouldn’t mind seeing a post on your mezcal recipe though. Thanks for coming out of hibernation.
17 Jun 2011 at 1:55 AM 12. Raphael
Nice to see that you’re posting again Jeffrey. This is one of the best cocktail blog out there. Why don’t you write more often ?
17 Jun 2011 at 7:42 AM 13. Erika Kotite
Great post. Cocktails are cool and wonderful and all, but you have to make a reasonable profit. Wondering if you plan to make an app; we’d love to review it.
17 Jun 2011 at 10:55 AM 14. Eric Buechel
wow, thanks so much Jeffrey, I just became a bar manager of a disorganized place, last night was my first night and I was feeling really overwhelmed. This post makes me a lot more confident. and also thanks for the Remember the Maine I had last week!
17 Jun 2011 at 1:16 PM 15. Jessica
Finally! I been dying to get my hands your speadsheets for a long time. Thanks for posting!
17 Jun 2011 at 2:18 PM 16. Nick
Great post man. It’s a relief to see so many people thankful for you posting this.
20 Jun 2011 at 12:30 AM 17. Spyros Patsialos
So simple, but extremely useful dear Jeffrey! This post reveals that your university studies :)
Thanks so very much. Take care.
22 Jun 2011 at 8:34 PM 18. Corey Taché
This is really helpful. What an extraordinary post.
Congratulations on your TOTC nomination!
25 Jun 2011 at 7:43 PM 19. Saylor
Thanks for the download Jeff!! I would love to see some more spreadsheets like this. In particular a larger Drink Price Calculator that one could have every drink(i.e. bottled beer, wine, shot of whiskey, etc.) a bar carries all on one spreadsheet. And for those iPhone users there is an app called “Drink Pricer” that is good for on the go when your calculating prices. The only problem with the app is the same reason I’d like to see a larger calculator, you can only calculate one drink/ingredient at a time.
27 Jun 2011 at 10:57 PM 20. Michael
Jeffrey, a great thanks for taking the time from what I can only imagine is a hellish schedule to help out your fellow tenders. Like you wrote, “that place in between is where a successful bar lives;” that couldn’t be further from the truth. I can’t wait to share this with my bar manager (who sometimes would scoff at me for insisting on trusting me when it came to pricing… I was basically following a similar system as your spreadsheet). At this point in the game, I foresee a Jeff’s Guide to Bartending for Dummies in the future. You couldn’t make things easier to grasp if you tried. Cheers to you, and there’s a line of drinks waiting for you in Burlington, VT.
28 Jun 2011 at 12:50 AM 21. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
Michael – Thanks so much for the kind words. I’m glad I could help. I’ll be sure to show up and take advantage of the offer one day soon.
29 Jun 2011 at 10:16 AM 22. David A. Roth
Hi Jeffrey, The spread sheet is great. Any tips on calculating dashes of bitters and fresh juices?
06 Jul 2011 at 9:04 AM 23. Jared Scarr
Thank you so much for being the “sharing” type of bartender. I know this was hours and hours of work that you are now kindly offering to your audience free of charge.
06 Jul 2011 at 10:16 AM 24. Federico Cuco
My dear Friend, this article is fantastic.
You’re the best cocktail teacher I ever been.
Thanks a lot!
Your friend of the far south
Federico Cuco
Buenos Aires Argentina
06 Jul 2011 at 12:11 PM 25. Ginty
Jeff!!! I was afraid you’d left us!
Great post. I was just wondering about this my self, I don’t even work at a bar and found this really interesting. Now I can figure out what I’m spending each time I make myself a drink at my home bar.
Thanks again!
07 Jul 2011 at 7:43 PM 26. Kim Haasarud
Hey Jeff!
Great post! Calculator is great. Glad to see you are posting again – yeah!
08 Jul 2011 at 3:09 PM 27. Kim Haasarud
You know, you just gave me an idea … to do a calculator this is the reverse of this. I work with a lot of national accounts where the pricing is already set (i.e. they have a menu of $7.95 cocktails). And, knowing the pour cost, I plug everything in and know that the rum I use in that drink can’t be over x amount a bottle.
23 Jul 2011 at 8:26 PM 28. Nat (alphacook)
Just starting to take over this role at work–very helpful explanation. We have a similar situation at our bar, balancing the menu with cocktails for enthusiasts vs. the theater and happy hour crowd. I look forward to more of these boring posts!
25 Jul 2011 at 8:38 PM 29. Anthonw
So, if my pour cost is 99%, it means that for every dollar I charge customers, only one penny is left to cover labor, operating expenses, etc. Yet, from the calculator, if I specify a 99% pour cost, the calculator tells me I should only charge $2.22 for the Negroni that costs me $2.20 in raw materials.
Yet, if my pour cost is only 1%, the same cocktail should cost my customers $219.
I don’t work in a bar, but I find this calculator interesting. If my gross margin is 99% on a drink, it seems I should be charging less for the drink to maximize revenue at a certain price point. On the flip side, those drinks with a high pour cost should cost way more. I suppose if everything ranges between 15 and 25% all seems to work out well. However, the calculations in the spreadsheet don’t correspond to the comments in your post; at least not to my CPA mind. But like I said, I’ve never worked in a bar. To the extent you can explain this, I’d appreciate it.
26 Jul 2011 at 12:40 PM 30. Tomek
Nice stuff. Please keep it coming. Two questions regarding the costing:
1. Is adding the cost of ice going to far in your opinion.
2. If we give every customer a glass of water with their cocktail should we add that to our cost too?
What do you think?
26 Jul 2011 at 12:43 PM 31. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
Anthonw- I don’t see how that isn’t making sense, I’d suggest taking another look at it.
Tomek – Yes, you’ve gone too far.
26 Jul 2011 at 12:45 PM 32. Tomek
Even if we are using block ice which we have to transport about 300km to our bar….
26 Jul 2011 at 12:46 PM 33. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
Tomek – You should work that cost into the business plan to determine what you need your pour cost to be, not factor it in directly to the cost of each drink.
28 Jul 2011 at 8:16 PM 34. Anthonw
Jeff,
Figured it out. I screwed up my numerator and denominator. Not sure why it’s a tough concept for me to grasp, but I defintely enjoyed reading the post.
I was inspired and posted my own Excel spreadsheet for doing conversions and reductions for punches and other recipes that just weren’t written with the home enthusiast in mind.
I posted it here for those who’d like to check it out. http://zeitguys.us/?p=171
31 Jul 2011 at 2:00 PM 35. Sarah
I love the idea of taking a more scientific look at the nuances of an industry that, to outsiders, might just look like a bunch of people throwing liquid into glasses and then going home.
Unrelatedly, “my two cruel taskmasters” was hilarious.
06 Aug 2011 at 3:59 PM 36. Payman
Fantastic article! However I have a question. I’m being brought on as bar manager to repair a deeply damaged cocktail program of a restaurant. As such I will be swapping out almost all their liquors and replacing it with higher quality brands.
Is the restaurant’s old pour cost no longer relevant to me since I’m replacing the spirits? If so how do I go about calculating the new pour cost?
Thanks again, as this is one of the best cocktail blogs out there!
Payman
02 Sep 2011 at 11:05 AM 37. Roland
Thanks for this Jeff. I made a similar sheet but yours is far simpler.
My question is how to input costs and measurements for fruit. Berries for example.
I think another column with space for strawberries per case etc..
Thoughts?
05 Oct 2011 at 6:30 PM 38. Jack Sotti
Another wonderful post, Thank you very much Jeffrey
22 Jan 2012 at 3:40 PM 39. Jérémy
Hello Jeff,
your blog is real source of inspiration for me, I own a molecular bar in Paris and try to respect your way.
But The link below do not work, could you please send me your pricing cocktail calculatar excel sheet by mail?
Thanks a lot.
Jérémy
The lab
07 rue saint sabin
Paris 7eme
13 Mar 2012 at 11:23 AM 40. Somerset wedding gal
Thanks for the great post, and for being so generous with your advice.
23 Jul 2012 at 9:53 PM 41. Brian Means
Jeff, do you also try to include citrus and syrups into the cost of your drinks? I know juice varies from lemon to lemon or lime to lime, but is there any solid calculation you like to use?
Thanks again!
28 Aug 2012 at 11:57 AM 42. Jane Nedanoski
Thx mate for the calculator..
It will help a lot!
Cheers n keep it up!!!
29 Jan 2013 at 4:18 PM 43. Francisco Terrazas
Jeffery,
For some reason, perhaps is my business school background, I find running an cost-effective bar program to be a part of the job I really enjoy. I was hoping you could post some of those other formulas you mentioned. I would like to maybe see things from a perspective I am not already using. Thanks for all you do for the betterment of the bartending community.
03 Feb 2013 at 10:37 AM 44. Brian
I love using the spreadsheet! It’s a great base to figure out your costs and now I can even add in my costs for syrups and garnishes to get a more definite feel of what each drink costs us! Thanks again!!
01 Apr 2013 at 6:34 PM 45. Carrie
I suck at formulas! I don’t know how to set one up and to download yours is all good, it’s not usable. Can you help me?