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Fair Food Fight Recipe: Bourbon Old Fashioned with Satsuma
Something about Christmas makes El Dragón want to watch old black and white movies and drink Old Fashioneds. Something about Bette Davis does the same thing, so after watching Something About Eve, I'm in a powerful spiral toward Old Fashioneds this Christmas Eve.
Old Fashioneds were the "weapon of choice" for the old timers in my very Germanic home town in Wisconsin, and finding your own taste for Old Fashioned was something of a rite of a passage there. Did you like Brandy Old Fashioned Sweets (topped with 7-Up)? Brandy Old Fashioned Sours (with sour mix)? Windsor Old Fashioned Neats? Southern Comfort Old Fashioned Press (for "Presbyterian" -- don't ask me why -- topped with ginger ale and club soda).
If you currently live in semi-rural Wisconsin, I would love to know if this "Old Fashioned" culture is still around, or if it's passing away along with second generation German-Americans and Wisconsin's true tavern culture. I find it a little sad to lose those town taverns -- not too many places where the old and young of a community spend lots of time together, simply enjoying each other's company.
So Old Fashioneds remind me of that and also of Christmas, when old timers would test me as a young bartender, and buy me my preferred Old Fashioned (Whiskey Old Fashioned Sour) if I got theirs right. As they would say, a touch of gemütlichkeit -- gladness, friendship -- for the holidays.
Time's change and so do tastes. Now I'm a Maker's Mark guy, and the fruit in this recipe wasn't even remotely available in the grocery stores of my youth. But some changes are most welcome.
El Dragón's Glorious Bourbon Old Fashioned Sweet with Organic Satsumas
2 shots Makers Mark bourbon
12 "shakes" of bitters
1 cube Fair Trade natural cane sugar
3 segments organic satsuma mandarins
3 segments organic blood orange (if available)
Blue Sky Lemon Lime Soda (or Sprite, 7-Up, whatever)
Maraschino cherry (optional)
Ice
In a fat, squat glass, place bitters, sugar and fruit in the bottom and "muddle" them (mash em up with the back of a spoon). I fully realize that maraschino cherries are anathema to the rest of my "real food" life. But, sorry, to me it's not an Old Fashioned without them. Remove from recipe if you just can't stand them.
Add bourbon. Fill almost to the top with ice. Add soda to the brim and stir until very bubbly. Drink a bit while the Old Fashioned is still fizzing.
El Dragón
Comments
Wow
Funny you should mention an Old Fashioned. I just finished bartending school last week and learned how to make one.
My husband has been watching Mad Men and Mr. Draper drinks and Old Fashioned in almost every episode.
I never knew there were so many ways to make an Old Fashioned. I'll have to try a few of your suggestions.
Yum
The recipe leaves out olives as a possible garnish. It sounds gross to put something so salty in a sweet drink, but it brings out some great flavors and compliments the bitters. The old timers ALWAYS seem to ask for olives. Old Fashioneds are alive and well in WI!
Signed, Veteran Bartender
Green Olives
Wow. Total body memory. I can remember making Old Fashioneds with green olives long, long ago but I've never garnished one that way for myself. Thanks for the tip!
to my ol' drinking buddy el dragon
I still have bitters from when we had cocktail hour back in the day. we should dust off the bottle and revive that tradition....you can leave the black and whites at home though, just bring the whiskey.
Angostura Man
I leave a trail of bitters wherever I go.
Balsamic
Agreed as to the need for a salty to compliment a sweet drink. As with cooking, a well crafted drink should incorporaet all of the senses of taste, as well as sight, smell, though am iffy on touch and sound.
My favorite ingredient has been a splash of balsamic vinegar. The weight of the vinegar causes it to sink and bead at the bottom of the glass. As it passes through the liqour it leaves a distinctive flavor though the drink. This has been the perfect asset for my personal challenge of trying to create a drink out of the ingredients in each of my CSA boxes. Only the balsamic could pull my starwberry/basil concotion together (which I named "La Bella"). Also, the single bead of balsamic at the bottom makes for a stunning presentation.
Signed, Another Veteran Bartender
crazy talk
Wait one darn minute, AVB. Balsamic vinegar in an Old Fashioned?? Sounds like some kinda GMO to me...
Manhattans
We were raised in the 50"s in a suburb north of Chicago. My parents trained us as the in house bartenders. Their drink of choice was the bourbon Manhattan with a cherry. Having had the drink as I got older, I could see why my Mom, a mother of 6 kids, had 1 (or 2) of them before dinner. You had to be a real woman to drink them.
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