Comments on: Brandy Old Fashioned

By: Jake

Jake — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 03:39:31 +0000

Like many other commenters, I grew up in the far north of Wisconsin and the Brandy Old Fashioned is my favorite drink, sour with 50/50 (I think Squirt is a bit too sweet but to each their own). Still, I think it is awesome to see this drink outside of Wisconsin. Concerning Jero mix, if you go to a bar/restaurant/supper club north of Green Bay, you almost never see any one not use some kind of Old Fashioned mix. I’m not saying this recipe is wrong by any means- I can’t wait to try it- but you’d be hard pressed to be served an Old Fashioned like this one in a small bar or supper club. And like others have said, this is most certainly not like more traditional Old Fashioneds, this is as Wisconsin as cheese and the Packers.

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 01:42:54 +0000

To all My People in Wisconsin, and Elsewhere reading this….Try it with Presidente Brandy….I Live in Washington State now, but was able to find it in Mukwanago this Thanksgiving while visiting the inlaws. so if you live in a metropolitan area it shouldn’t be too hard! It makes the Old Fashioned sublime. My dad always used Korbel, so I did too! It’s only a couple bucks more a bottle but it is worth it. Like JM says, “you get out of it what you put in too it….I add a cinammon stick too,

By: Frank Elliott

Frank Elliott — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 06:23:58 +0000

The old fashioned is my favorite drink. Here’s my obscenely decadent version of a brandy old fashioned.

1 thick wedge of blood orange.
3 Amarena Fabbri cherries
1 tsp of simple syrup
2 oz of armagnac (I like Cles des Ducs)
Ice to fill the glass
a shot of seltzer
2 dashes orange bitters

Of course, changing the bitters in a brandy old fashioned from Angostura to Peychaud makes it a brandy Sazerac. So New Orleans has prior art. ;-)

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 20:36:48 +0000

Have lived is SE Wisconain all of our lives. My wife prefers hers like this.
4 (yes 4) oz Korbel.
4 dashes Angostora bitters
Hot Dilly bean and a queen size olive
5-6 oz 7up.

Combine all in a 16 oz. old fashioned glass and cram in as much ice as possible. Bigger the cubes the better.

Me, I like a Korbel Manhattan with Bianco vermouth….two to one.

By: Linda S

Linda S — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 23:10:02 +0000

I’m born and raised Green Bay and old fashioneds are my drink of choice. Always a southern comfort old fashioned press, no fruit. And it must be muddled. Yum…looks like I’m stopping at the mart on the way home to make some…

By: Heide M.

Heide M. — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 06:57:30 +0000

I’ll have to try this.

By: Tara

Tara — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:23:34 +0000

Having grown up in Wisconsin, this article made me laugh and brought back great memories all at the same time! I fondly remember neighbors making a brandy old fashion, Wisconsin style, throughout my childhood. And today, you can absolutely still go to a small town bar or a supper club and get yourself a fantastic brandy old fashion! Ahhh, it makes me nostalgic for home! Cheers!

By: Dick Hikade

Dick Hikade — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 18:00:03 +0000

Just finished reading your article in the Oregonian. Looked up your website and was pleasantly surprized to see an article about my beloved state of Wisconsin and its signature drink the “Brandy” Old Fashion. I worked my way through Marquette Dental School bartending on weekends, making my share of Old Fashions. I remeber reading years ago that Wis. drinks more brandy than France and drinks 40% of the brandy in the U.S. When family and friends are over for the holidays it has become a tradition, they dont have a choice of beverages, they know and love being served the Old Fashion.

By: DrinksMeister

DrinksMeister — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 21:45:42 +0000

perfect twist of an old classic cocktail>D

By: MBus

MBus — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 08:15:46 +0000

This is oddly similar to what I get when I ask for an old fashioned at random bars–except with brandy instead of whiskey.

By: tony reser

tony reser — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 23:58:32 +0000

Your narrative on the Wisconsin Brandy Old Fashioned is priceless. One of my best clients is from Wisconsin and, indeed, it is his favorite drink though he is mediocre bartender so he cheats and uses Jero Old Fashioned mix which is not available in Oregon. While your Brandy Old fashioned is a true representation of the Wisconsin variety I much prefer the Jeffrey Morganthaler Whiskey Old Fashioned which is not muddled, uses orange peel, and NO SPRITZER!

By: Jeff from Chilton

Jeff from Chilton — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 21:12:30 +0000

I recently rediscovered the Old Fashion after moving from Wisconsin 30 years ago. I have been making them with 7 up because it was easy but have gone back to the way I used to make them with simple syrup and water. I just tried the crushed ice instead of water and I like this too. Brings back fond memories of my days in eastern Wisconsin. I’m enjoying one as I post this.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:30:24 +0000

domink mj:

I’m coming to this thread a bit late, but check out this link:

http://www.quinnipiac.edu/other/ABL/etext/stagetavern/chp5.html

scroll down for the description of a “toddy stick”, a very important part of the pre-prohibition bartender’s kit.

By: Alex

Alex — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 05:30:11 +0000

I’ve recently been turned on to The Old Fashion Old Fashion. Everything the regular Old Fashion is with basil added. In this case I like to use Bourbon vs. Brandy.

By: Wanda

Wanda — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 04:20:58 +0000

I think that the Brandy version may have come from Norwegian or other Scandinavian settlers in Wisconsin. My relatives in Norway, are very familiar with the Brandy Old Fashioned. It was my father’s favorite drink. He often made it at home with brandy, usually Korbel, bitters, with the Maraschino cherries and some of their juice, plus sweet (7 Up). I preferred it sour, with Squirt, but that was probably because my first real drink was the Brandy Sour.
Typically, if you order Sweet, you get olives and if Sour, you get fruit.

By: Tully

Tully — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 08:53:41 +0000

Why not just peel the orange instead of muddling around it?

By: Nikki

Nikki — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 06:36:49 +0000

So much to take in.

By: Holly

Holly — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 14:56:49 +0000

Thank you for publishing this.

I recently returned from Appelton, WI, where the family of my future sister-in-law was marrying into didn’t drink much–except for sweet brandy old fashions, with an olive. I thought I knew a thing or two about cocktails, but shit. Keep learning, right? Great cocktail to have in your back pocket when the in-laws visit. Really loosens up the otherwise tight crowd.

By: dominik mj

dominik mj — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 05:50:50 +0000

Jeffrey – fortunately there are no absolutes in the bar; so you can have your opinion about it and I can have mine.

I actually see it like that: The Old Fashioned is an abbreviation to Old Fashioned Whiskey Cocktail. And in these days [Jerry Thomas days], categories rather than specific drinks stood in the foreground. And usually they were made very similar [most of the time, only the spirit was swapped].
I am sure, that not only Old Fashioned Whiskey cocktails where prepared and consumed in the mid 1800’s but also “really” Old Fashioned Brandy Cocktails.
The style of muddling something, was developed much much later – later than prohibition; I would estimate that it was not before the 60’s.

Don’t get me wrong – I know absolutely where you are coming from – but I see the subject more… globally and less regional.

You are pinpointing it on the cultural significance – I am rather concerned about the historic significant. Like mentioned, there isn’t right or wrong, I just choose “the no prisoners”way, as I know, that fine details are the first things, which are going lost.
You can count the minutes, that somebody will do a Maraschino cherry and full orange muddled Old Fashioned with crushed ice and call it legit.

By: Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Jeffrey Morgenthaler — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 04:33:20 +0000

dominik – Keep in mind, this isn’t an “Old Fashioned”, it’s a Brandy Old Fashioned. The point of this post was to demonstrate that the Brandy Old Fashioned is now a completely different drink than the more historically accurate Old Fashioneds we’re serving these days. It’s become more than something a bunch of people drink in clubs, it’s officially its own drink and deserves to be treated with the cultural significance that generations of Wisconsonians have bestowed upon it.

By: Don Grutz

Don Grutz — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 03:55:23 +0000

Just returned from Baraboo Wisconsin visiting family and friends….Your recipe is spot on. We traveled 30 miles to the middle of nowhere to Cimarili’s Supper Club.

12 oz. glass filled with 2 oz brandy $2.50!!! $1 more if you ask for Makers Mark!

I had several each of our 4 visits.

Don

By: dominik mj

dominik mj — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 21:39:47 +0000

@ Jeffrey:

That so many people are drinking one specific recipe, doesn’t make it necessary [conceptual] better.
80% of the “going out crowd” here in Dubai are drinking Bullfrogs [imagine a Long Island Iced Tea - with the "triple sec" exchanged with Blue Curaçao and the Coke substituted with Red Bull] – this are thousands and thousands of people – and yes, this is the most ordered mixed drinks here in the Middle East – and no, that doesn’t make it a little bit better [even a tweaked version is waste of time].

I would not compare the Brandy Old Fashioned Wisconsin’s style with a Bullfrog – but if you are taking the origin of the “Old Fashioned” – it is just wrong to muddle it [which is not old fashioned in the Jerry Thomas context].

I do understand, where you are coming from; but just have a different opinion about it. Millions of people are drinking this with cheap maraschino cherries and with commercial, HFCS loaded lemon-lime soda – if your argument justification would be right, you might not change it at all…

By: Bull Garlington

Bull Garlington — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 21:27:49 +0000

Donalbein makes me think there’s an article idea for nostalgic cocktail recipes. Like, they might be “wrong” but they’re the way you learned it and you like it. Or your grandfather drank it that way. Or your dad.

By: Donalbein

Donalbein — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 21:11:20 +0000

Another way my grandfather would make it was with Graf’s 50/50 soda which he called a sour. To this day it still brings back memories and I would not change how I make it.

By: David Herpin

David Herpin — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 14:18:06 +0000

That’s unfair to say the old fashioned was lost after prohibition, because many drinks were. I assure you it wasn’t confused with the smash, unless you were the bartender I guess. You do mention it is closely associated with the julep, mad props bro; but the defining difference is not the fruit, it’s the vessel. Oh my, I was under the impression that many of this drinks mysteries were revealed. Okay, because you didn’t define what type of sugar I will assume you meant brown sugar, benefit of the doubt, just for you. You mention bitters but not what type, i’ll give that to you too. The maraschino cherry and orange are simple derivatives of maraschino and orange bitters, which I know you know. . .. I like the use of brandy in this drink, makes more historical sense. I like the choice of large cubes also, this is probably the ice that was used. Just when I started to not hate you so much, I scroll down to see a picture of mashed up goo in a glass, i’m sorry dude, i’m not even reading any more. I’m sure I could write a book on the many discrepancies this article surely contains, i’m not going to find out though. You’ll probably dismiss this and delete the comment and talk trash about me, that’s fine, atleast I know I don’t know anything. Good day, sir.