The Old Fashioned Gets an Unusual Update
We all like and enjoy the occasional Old Fashioned. If you're a bourbon drinker, you probably love it.
Boozy, sweet & medicinal -- the combination of flavors that make for a good old-fashioned Old Fashioned. In the beginning, it was comprised of booze (arguably something called "whiskey"), a lump of sugar and Angostura Bitters, quite possibly watered down a little.
Since its inception, this very straight and honest drink has evolved just about as much as the spirits used to make them. And then some.
There are better spirits available now, which in turn don't ask for the addition of water. With finer spirits, the method needed to be revisited -- enter: simple syrup, stirring and straining. Now we have premium spirits and most people also carry something in the department of bitters (if only hidden somewhere in their luggage).
I've seen a couple of interpretations of this drink and today I'd like to introduce mine. Not built, not stirred, just very unusual:
The New Fashioned Old Fashioned
- 60ml [2oz] Four Roses Single Barrel Bourbon
- 2t Olde English Bitter Orange Marmelade
- 1-1.5t powdered sugar
- 1 dash Mozart Dry Chocolate Bitters (or mole bitters)
- 1 dash Own Decanter Bitters (or Boker's or Peychaud's bitters)
- 1 stick of cinnamon
Light the cinnamon stick and catch the smoke in a tumbler. In a shaker, add all ingredients except the cinnamon. Add some ice and shake the hell out of it. Double strain over ice ball or large format cube in the pre-cinnamon smoked tumbler. Add the cinnamon stick (burnt side down) and a huge orange zest.
To me, the Single Barrel is a great choice for something as simple as the Old Fashioned. It carries loads of character, all of which are underlined by this choice of ingredients.
Bitter Orange Marmalade goes well with almost any kind of Bourbon, ripe for experimentation. Plum Jam also is a great addition to the fruity notes of this whiskey -- in that case kick the orange twist and drop in a Cognac soaked plum, if you can find one.
The Cinnamon together with the bitters compliments the fine wooden notes, lending a subtle first impression by flavor, and adding to the already deep complexity.
Enjoy!