Ladies and Gentlemen this is your Captain speaking.
For chapter two of the cocktail compendium we will be exploring a quite old drink, 1800's old. The Old Fashioned get's it's "old" moniker form the cocktail movement of the 1800's. Around this time period going to a bar and ordering a cocktail would get you whatever the house cocktail was, using whatever ingredients the bar tender had access to and could whip up. Each bar most likely had its own variation with not standardization. The old fashioned gets it's name from patrons who would order a cocktail "the old fashioned way" calling back to older cocktails that were much simpler and more universally understood to be the same recipe.
Today's modern cocktail renaissance has given a second birth to the Old Fashioned to be a great cocktail for those wanting to explore whisky and those who enjoy whisky to explore cocktails. For what type of whisky to use in this drink, you can honestly use your favorite, traditionally it is made with Rye, but since the last chapter was a Rye based drink this recipe will be using Bourbon.
Here is the recipe, I'll put my preferred brands in (parentheses) but you should choose what you like to drink.
2 oz. Bourbon (Maker's Mark)
0.25 oz. Simple Syrup (2:1 sugar to water)
2 dashed Bitters (Angostura)
Garnish: Twist of Orange Peel
The correct way to prepare
Add to a rocks glass Simple Syrup, Bitters, and Bourbon.
Add one (1) large ice cube
Stir in glass for sixty (60) seconds (until the outside of mix glass is cold)
Peel wide swath of orange peel
Strike a match and express the oils from the peel over the drink
Rub peel around the rim of glass and drop in
The way I prepare (I differ from the recipe a little here)
Add sugar cube to rocks glass
Soak sugar cube with Bitters
Add Bourbon, 2-4 ice cubes, stir
Garnish with an Orange or Lemon peel (the flaming of the peel does add a great flavor and aroma to the drink, but to be honest if the drink is just for myself I will skip this step)
JackFactTM Maker's Mark has a free ambassador program that anyone of legal drinking age can sign up for, you will be mailed an ambassador package and your name will be put on a barrel of Marker's Mark that you can purchase when it is available. My barrel number is 824038.
