Old-Fashioned

“Don’t muddle with an old-fashioned” could be this cocktail’s motto, as the name itself indicates its adherence to tradition. Muddling, however, is precisely one of the traditions to which the drink adheres; the old-fashioned is, in fact, probably the best known of the few remaining cocktails whose authenticity depends upon the technique, which involves mashing together certain (generally solid) ingredients with a wooden muddler, or pestle, to release their flavors. In this case, orange, lemon, cherries, and sugar are muddled with bitters—the storied flavoring agent whose inclusion is another nod to tradition—before the key ingredient, whiskey (typically bourbon), is added. According to legend, the drink was created in the late nineteenth century at the Pendennis Club in Louisville, Kentucky, at the behest of a member, Colonel James Pepper, who must have had a stake in the outcome; Pepper was a distiller of bourbon under the label “Old 1776.” For the record, however, rumors of an even older-fashioned version of the cocktail persist among some rye drinkers. At any rate, eclipsed though it may be by more modern, flashy libations, the old-fashioned shines on through the stout, cylindrical, much-used tumbler that bears its name.