cocktail review no. 19 - Old-Fashioned

Now, I understand that I haven't been showcasing drinks that are easy to make. I made the assumption that all you other mixologists out there are as affluent and well-supplied as I am (or at least as unwise about spending money). I dished out recipes with pricey, oddball ingredients, such as Grand Marnier, Cointreau and Drambuie. Even so, most of the cocktail recipes I've posted have been simple to actually mix. Combine, shake, pour. Nothing to it.

This one is a little more complicated.

• 3 dashes bitters
• 1 teaspoon water
• 1 sugar cube
• 3 ounces blended whiskey
• 1 orange slice
• 1 maraschino cherry

In an old-fashioned glass, muddle the bitters and water into the sugar cube with the back of a teaspoon. Almost fill the glass with ice cubes and add the whiskey. Garnish with the orange slice and the cherry, and serve with a swizzle stick.

What is "muddling," you ask? Excellent question. It consists of crushing or grinding the ingredient in question. Ordinarily, you'd use a small, bat-shaped piece of wood, rather like a pestle (and called a "muddler"), to do this.

I don't have a muddler, but fortunately, this drink doesn't require one. I also didn't have sugar cubes, so I used a teaspoon of sugar. I came, I saw, I muddled. Combining the water, bitters and sugar, I proceeded to mash the sugar into the resultant fluid for all I was worth. Then I added the ice, whiskey, and garnishes. (I forgot the swizzle sticks, however.) As for whiskey, I had a little Seagram's 7 left; and that seemed to work pretty well.

This was not the first time I'd concocted an old-fashioned, but it came out much, much better this time. (Last time I actually did have sugar cubes, but I didn't understand the concept of "muddling" too well.) In contrast to the myriad cocktails out there nowadays that taste exactly alike (do you have ANY idea how many variations there are on the whiskey, lemon juice, and sugar theme?), this drink is truly unique. It has a sophisticated, mellow flavor that's redolent of grain, but doesn't burn or sting or overpower. The bitters and sugar smooth the whiskey out, make the drink pleasantly bittersweet (no surprise there), and are themselves reined in by the hint of orange. And then there's the cherry for dessert. This is a grand, grand drink, undeniably one of the royal family of cocktails.

As an interesting side note, I first heard of the old-fashioned when I watched that hilarious epic, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Jim Backus's character, Mr. Fitzgerald, gets drunk on old-fashioneds while flying Mickey Rooney and Buddy Hackett to Santa Rosita. He is subsequently knocked out, and Mickey and Buddy have to land the plane somehow.

"Quit clowning around, will you, and make us some drinks! Just press the button back there marked booze!"