The Beauty Of An Old Fashioned Lies In Its Simplicity
It consists of brandy, a couple sweeteners, and a little bit of love, by which we mean muddling. Theyve been a Wisconsin staple for generations and figure to stay that way far into the future. Theyre right at home at taverns and tailgates, bowling alleys and bingo halls. And, of course, the best place of all: your drinking hand.
Other Classic Cocktails You May Enjoy
If youre loving the brandy old fashioned and want to up your mixology game by getting into some other classic cocktails that blend simple flavors in complementary fashions, here are some you may enjoy:
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Greg
Friday 2nd of July 2021
You can take it up a notch by using luxardo cherries to garnish along with blood orange slices. I muddle maraschino cherries with an orange slice from a peeled orange together with a splash of simple syrup and bitters. My syrup has water, sugar, bitters, and orange peel that is boiled until the peel is saturated. I then cool the simple syrup for bar use and add the orange peel to melted sugar to candy it. That becomes part of the garnish. I also make my own bitters but thats another topic . The creation of the drink becomes the art of the show! Starting with a basic Old Fashioned, its fun to experiment!
Sarah Ozimek
Best Brandy For An Old Fashioned Sweet
Korbel is the largest producer of Brandy in the U.S. and it is served in bars and restaurants all across Wisconsin. When using alcohol in a mixed drink, instead of drinking neat, there is no need to go for the most expensive top-shelf choice. Korbel is a perfect brandy for the Old Fashioned. If you are in Sonoma, California you can even visit the distillery.
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Wisconsin Brandy Old Fashioned Cocktails
What is a Brandy Old-fashioned
What is a Brandy Old Fashioned?
Whiskey Cocktail Original Classic Old Fashioned
- 1/2 teaspoon Refined Sugar or one Sugar Cube
- 2-3 dashes Angostura Bitters
- 1 tablespoon Water
- 2 oz. whiskey, bourbon or rye
First you are going to put the first three ingredients in an old fashioned glass . Crush the sugar with your muddler. Add a small amount of ice and stir. Then sit and sip.
Wisconsin Brandy Old Fashioned
Is A Brandy Old Fashioned Sweet
Like my apple cider old fashioned, a brandy old fashioned is definitely on the sweeter end of the cocktail spectrum, and I think thats why people find it so alluring. They go down very easy , so be careful!
Unlike my rosemary cocktail, which is sweetened with simple syrup, or my honey old fashioned which is, of course, sweetened with honey, the sweetness in a brandy old fashioned comes from a variety of sources.
Theres the marascino cherries PLUS some of the juice from the cherry jar. Theres the orange slice . Theres the sugar cube. And then theres the lemon-lime soda.
If all of this is TOO sweet for you , feel free to just omit the sugar cube. I often do that, and enjoy it just as well that way.
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Garnish Your Brandy Old Fashioned Like A Wisconsinite
Regardless of how you like your old fashioned, theres one thing you dont want to skip, and thats the garnish. If you order an old fashioned at a bar in Wisconsin, youll be asked what kind of garnish you want. Cherries are an obvious choice , but lots of people choose olives or pickled mushrooms. Good bars will even stock pickled Brussels sprouts, so you could choose that as well.
If youre making these drinks at home, cherries and olives are a great start. If you like and will use the pickled mushrooms, get those, too.
Wisconsin Brandy Old Fashioned Sweet Recipes
In empty tumbler glass, drop in 3 maraschino cherries, 3 sugar cubes and three dashes bitters. With muddling tool, muddle these three ingredients together, until the sugar is a brown crystlized mush and there is a spiced sweet aroma. Next, pack glass with ice, to top rim of glass. Add 1 1/2 shot Southern Comfort. Pour Sprite over top of ice.
Instructions. Combine all ingredients and serve over ice. Garnish with orange wedge or cherries. If you love this Old Fashioned Cocktail recipe, I think youll enjoy these other cocktails! Caramel Apple Sangria. Easy Summer Beer with 7UP®. Click here to cancel reply. Denise. Tuesday 29th of October 2019.
The old fashioned is a simple cocktail, like the one in the traditional old-fashioned recipe. An orange and cherry-muddled sugar cube is soaked in bitters and added to the brandy. In general, it is served with a splash of 7-Up or Sprite.
To me, the mid-century Old Fashioned is epitomized by the classic Wisconsin supper club brandy Old Fashioned that you can order sweet or sour which means your muddled fruit and sugar gets topped off with either 7-Up or Squirt. A modern reinterpretation of this drink is the Brandy Old Fashioned by Jeffrey Morgenthaler.
Instructions. To a cocktail glass, add 2 tsp of simple syrup . Add 3 dashes Angostura bitters. Add 3 dashes orange bitters. Add a large ice cube to the glass. Add 2 ounces of bourbon.
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Why Is The Wisconsin Old Fashioned Made With Brandy
Fun fact, Wisconsin is the #1 consumer of brandy in the U.S. according to Korbel. You may know that Wisconsin is most definitely not the #1 most populous state in the U.S and I like to think its high ranking in brandy consumption is due to the unofficial cocktail.
According to the Green Bay Gazette brandy became very popular during the war when grain was being shipped to feed Europe and it basically has stuck around ever since.
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Directions How To Make A Brandy Old Fashioned Sweet
Tips
- I recommend getting large ice cube molds the larger the ice the less it melts and waters down the drink.
- If you want to make a Brandy Old Fashioned Sour use grapefruit soda, like 50/50 or Squirt instead of Sprite.
- If you are looking for an alcohol free version, check out this Virgin Old Fashioned recipe.
More cocktails to try:
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About Brandy Old Fashioneds
An old fashioned is a cocktail that has been around since the 19th century but was tragically missing from my life until I moved to Wisconsin.
While I cant speak for the rest of the state, in Madison, old fashioneds are a big deal. No matter which bar you enter, chances are that they pour a good one.
While there are a few ways to order an old fashioned, most begin with:
- A sugar cube muddled with bitters, maraschino cherries, and orange
- AND a generous pour of booze
Jeffrey Morgenthalerbartending And Cocktail Advice Since 2004
See more Recipes
For a little background info before you read this post, you can watch me ramble on in front of a camera below. If 7you dont want to listen to my nonsense, skip it and read on.
In my opinion, one of the greatest triumphs of the cocktail renaissance is the rediscovery of the classic Old Fashioned. Ive often spoken of how at some point after the repeal of Prohibition, the Old Fashioned became lost and possibly confused with a long-forgotten drink called a Smash , a mere husk of its former, glorious self.
For decades, bartenders just like me served a limp, weak concoction consisting of a half-muddled sugar cube, a mashed-up neon red cherry and orange, a splash of whiskey, and some soda water drowning the results.
With a little luck, and a lot of hard work, thats all changed with the renewed interest in classic cocktails. Now at any given night at my bar you can find literally a dozen people sipping on two ounces bourbon touched with a teaspoon of sugar and two dashes of bitters, garnished with a simple orange twist over a couple big ice cubes.
But dont try to pull that bullshit with the good people of the Great State of Wisconsin, where the Brandy Old Fashioned rules supreme. Its not the same drink as above, it just shares a name. And if you make it right, really right, its a damn delicious cocktail and worthy of examination.
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Prohibition ended nearly 90 years ago, but the drink recipe stuck. Wisconsinites still consume half of the brandy produced by Korbel each year, most of it in Old-Fashioneds. And while the dairy industry may have gotten milk declared the state drink back in the 80s, Wisconsin has the nations third highest number of bars per capita in the country, and you betcha nobody is ordering a glass of low-fat in any of those places.
There are two things every bar in Wisconsin has to have: Miller beer and Korbel brandy, says Berman. Your run-of-the-mill bar might not even know how to make what people from elsewhere think of as an Old-Fashioned.
The Tin Widow doesnt list a Wisconsin Old-Fashioned on its drink menu the bars version of the classic cocktail is a hybrid of both the local and normal styles a bourbon Old-Fashioned stirred with housemade sour mix. Its the bars most popular drink, but Berman knows better than to deny customers the opportunity to order the cocktail that, to Wisconsin residents, feels like home.
We stock 250 whiskeys, more than 200 gins and one brandy Korbel, he says.
Wisconsin Old-Fashioned made with Central Standard brandy Photo courtesy of Jon Wolf The Rally Co.
In a minor act of heresy, Central Standard has made a bid to find a home in local liquor cabinets for its own North Wisconsin brandy as the base liquor for making a Wisconsin Old-Fashioned.
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Drink Like You’re In Wisconsin
How do you drink a brandy old-fashioned like a true Wisconsinite? Korbel brandy is almost always poured in the state, so that’s a good start. Some people prefer plain seltzer, though the lemon-lime sodas are a favorite.
Also, because bartenders mix up so many of these, many create a mix called “bug juice” to save time. Essentially, they’re creating a ready-to-pour mixture of sugar, water, and bittersforegoing the muddle completely.
While that’s a good adaptation in a busy bar, home bartenders will find that making the brandy old-fashioned according to this recipe an easier way to go. It does not take much time at all and in a few minutes, you will have a great drink. Though everyone in Wisconsin may put their personal spin on the drink, this recipe is accepted as authentic.
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How To Make A Brandy Old Fashioned:
Just like my basil cocktail, this is a muddled drink.
In a double old fashioned glass , muddle the cherries, cherry juice, orange slice, sugar and bitters until everything is crushed and somewhat blended together.
Add the brandy and stir until everything is well combined and the sugar completely dissolves into the brandy.
Fill your glass with ice, and then top everything off with lemon-lime soda .
Wisconsin Brandy Old Fashioned
We have a lot of unique food traditions here in Wisconsin. From these unconventional brandy old fashioned cocktails to chicken booyah and deep fried cheese curds , there are so many awesome foods I want to teach your about. So Ive decided to start The Supper Club Series to share classic Wisconsin recipes and recreate them without milk when needed.
The first in the series is Wisconsinss most classic cocktail: the brandy old fashioned. A traditional old fashioned cocktail uses whiskey, but here, we make them with brandy.
The reasons arent really clear, since most of this sort of stuff gets lost to history. Popular theories are that brandy was more familiar to German immigrants and that brandy was more readily available during prohibition times, but Ill leave the historical internet research to you. Just know that you can order your old fashioned with either brandy or whiskey and no one will think twice about it.
Another thing that makes a Wisconsin old fashioned different than its more widespread counterpart is the wash. A wash is basically when you add soda or seltzer to a cocktail after mixing it. Ive described the different ways we use this wash below, and you can choose whichever option you like best.
More cocktails fun: ginger saketinis / jam cocktails / pamplemousse fizz
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Brandy Old Fashioned Sweet Or Sour
In Wisconsin, the default way to make a Brandy Old Fashioned is with a splash of Sprite or 7-up, making it sweet.
But, dont think you have to stop there.
You can also make it with sour mix or a sour soda , making it sour. You can get fancy, and make it press, with a combination of 7-up and seltzer. Or, you can skip all the fanciness and simply add seltzer.
Brandy Old Fashioned Sweet Recipe
The 7UP Sweet Old Fashioned is inspired by the Wisconsin standby, the Brandy Old Fashioned cocktail, which is sweeter than the traditional Old Fashioned. However, we kept the whiskey in our version since the 7UP and grenadine add just enough sweetness on their own.
The Drink: The Great Dane is a brew pub, but they make a great Brandy Old Fashioned.It had muddled cherries and orange and a cherry garnish. The bitters were just right and it was not too sweet. It could have used a bit more brandy, but overall the flavor balance was very good.
3 · The concept of an old-fashioned dates back to the early 1800s and includes whiskey, bitters, cherry juice, sugar and water. This version, which is extremely popular in Wisconsin, uses brandy in place of whiskey and lemon-lime soda instead of water for a milder cocktail.
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In a large saucepan, bring water and sugar to a boil. Cook, stirring frequently, until sugar is dissolved. Let cool to room temperature. Stir in brandy, orange juice concentrate, cherry juice and bitters.
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How To Make A Brandy Old Fashioned
Todays brandy old fashioned recipe is based on the Madison bar I believe pours the very best, a restaurant appropriately named The Old Fashioned.
Ive watched many brandy old fashioneds here, and after a good amount of at-home experimentation, I believe Ive nailed their version of an old fashioned press with Korbel.
What To Serve With Brandy Old Fashioneds:
Well, if youre drinking like you live in the Midwest, you may as well eat like you live here, too. And us Midwesterners love pizza. Try a cheeseburger pizza or chicken pizza.
Or, if you just want a few little nibbles during happy hour, my phyllo cup appetizers and spicy potato chips both make great pairings for this drink.
And dont forget to say a few opes while youre drinking. You cant be an honorary Midwesterner without muttering this non-word several times a day.
Dont know what I mean? Check out the School of Ope.
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Brandy Old Fashioned Recipe
To make a Brandy Old Fashioned, add a sugar cube to an Old Fashioned or rocks glass. Add a few dashes of bitters along with a cherry and a splash of cherry juice. Toss in an orange slice and a splash of lemon lime soda. Muddle the ingredients and top with ice. Add brandy and mix. Top with lemon lime soda and enjoy!
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Recipe For Brandy Old Fashioned Sweet
Why brandy?
Apparently at the Chicago Worlds Fair in 1893, a new brandy distiller from California called Korbel was sampling their spirits.
Korbel began pouring the classic Old Fashioned whiskey cocktail using brandy, and the German crowd from Milwaukee took to the brandy and the cocktail in a big way.
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Brandy Old Fashioned Cocktail Recipe
How Do You Dissolve Sugar In An Old Fashioned? Put the sugar cube at the bottom of the Old Fashioned glass and soak it in Aromatic Bitters for four to six dashes . Pour some water into the bitters and add the sugar while muddled. Sugar should only be dissolved in a small amount of water.
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Directions. Put the sugar cube along with the Angostura bitters, cherries soaked in brandy and orange slices into a lo ball short tumbler. Muddle those ingredients together. Top the glass with ice. Add the brandy and top off the drink with lemon and lime soda. Stir to combine.
Brandy Old-Fashioned. 2 oz Cooper River Distillers Copper & Vine brandy 2 dashes aromatic bitters 1 sugar cube 1 half of a thickly cut orange wheel 1 high-quality preserved cherry. Place all the ingredients except the brandy into an old-fashioned glass. Muddle the contents into a paste, but avoid crushing the bitter pith and peel of the orange.
Popular Muddled Rum Cocktails. Among the most famous rum recipes that need to be muddled are these three shining stars of the cocktail world. Caipirinha cachaca with muddled lime and sugar. Hot Buttered Rum dark rum with muddled butter, sugar, and spices. Mojito rum with muddled mint, sugar, and club soda.