Old Fashioned Friday: Recent Episodes
Leah by the Lake
Wisconsin's favorite cocktail! Dig into the stories behind this iconic drink, meet some interesting people, and we'll divulge how to find the best watering holes. Basically your much-needed dose of Life in the Northwoods - PLUS a weekly Old Fashioned recipe! Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/old-fashioned-friday/support
We're wrapping up this little series on Large Batch Cocktails - a great way to simplify entertaining over the Holidays. Today we're talking all things Grasshopper, and I'm giving out my big sister's Grasshoppers for a Crowd recipe. Tune in!
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This week I'm sharing a few stories on Thanksgiving and gratitude, my best tips on preparing and getting through Thanksgiving dinner - and a recipe for STRONG but also YUMMY Jack Daniels fudge recipe.
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Thanksgiving will be here in three weeks! THREE WEEKS! Before things get out of hand we are hosting a cocktail party for friends - which means BATCH COCKTAILS. We'll be using homemade (or leftover) cranberry sauce to make a fruit puree for our Bellinis. Join me!
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This time of year in our family means two things - celebrating our wedding anniversary and the beginning of the busy season - holiday entertaining and houseguests. In this episode we'll cover how we do Halloween in the Northwoods, and how to make a batch of Apple Cider Old Fashioneds.
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24/7 Wall Street has released its annual ranking of the nation's drunkest cities, and Wisconsin is home to 12 of the top 20 cities. Our long winters and German heritage might have something to do with it. But let's be responsible about it - eh?
According to the report, the following 20 cities are the drunkest cities in the U.S.:
- Appleton, Wis.
- Oshkosh/Neenah, Wis.
- Green Bay, Wis.
- Madison, Wis.
- Fargo, N.D.
- La Crosse/Onalaska, Wis.
- Fond du Lac, Wis.
- Ames, Iowa
- Eau Claire, Wis.
- Mankato/North Mankato, Minn.
- Wausau, Wis.
- Sheboygan, Wis.
- Missoula, Mont.
- Grand Forks, N.D.
- Racine, Wis.
- Janesville/Beloit, Wis.
- Milwaukee/Waukesha/West Allis, Wis.
- Lincoln, Neb.
- Iowa City, Iowa
- Corvallis, Ore.
Red Wine Old Fashioned Sangria
1lb cherries
¼ c sugar
½ c water
½ c bourbon
½ c orange liqueur
Orange bitters
Oranges, cut into wedges
Red Wine
Club Soda
Mix cherries and sugar together over medium heat, bring to a simmer, and mash break up cherries. Simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Strain juices from the cherry mixture into a large container, then add water, bourbon, orange liqueur, bitters to taste, and orange wedges. Refrigerate for one hour or overnight.
To serve, pour about 4 ounces of cherry juice and bourbon mixture into a glass, add 4 ounces of red wine, and top with a sploosh of club soda. Garnish with a cherry and an orange wedge.
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The last few years have made it all too easy for people to hide behind their keyboards, saying things to people they would never say face-to-face. In this episode, I rant, then talk about a way to make things kinder in our little corner of the world. AND let’s show some love with a special cocktail just for Valentine’s Day.
New York Sour for Valentine’s Day
2oz Bourbon
1oz Lemon Juice
1 bar spoon Maple Syrup
Red Wine
Add bourbon, lemon juice, and syrup to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake and strain into a rocks glass prepared with fresh ice. For red wine float, slowly pour red wine over the back of your bar spoon to create a layered effect. (keep practicing till you get it right ;)
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We are continuing our tour of Wisconsin wineries and distilleries! The first settler to plant grapes where the Wollersheim Winery stands today left Wisconsin to follow the Gold Rush, and became a leader in the California wine industry. Generations later the Wollersheim family acquired the property, and now run a successful winery and distillery in Prairie du sac, Wisconsin. Hear their story this week and enjoy a Brandy Old Fashioned.
Wollersheim Brandy Old Fashioned
1.5oz Wollersheim Press House Brandy
.25 oz Wollersheim Old Fashioned Cocktail Syrup
Orange Wedge
Amarena cherry
Sweet or sour soda
Using an Old Fashioned glass, muddle together the syrup and fruit into a paste, avoiding the orange peel. Add brandy and fill glass with ice, top with your preference of clear soda, and stir. Garnish with additional orange slice and cherry.
Make your own Amerena style cherries
15oz can sour cherries with juice
1/2 c sugar
Add contents of can and sugar into a saucepan. Bring mixture to boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer until mixture reaches 225 with a candy thermometer. Cherries will turn dark red and have a honey-like consistency. Cool and store covered in the refrigerator.
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The first Wisconsin distillery we’re “touring” is J. Henry and Sons in Dane Wisconsin. This family farm has been used to grow superior corn, wheat & rye, and these are the grains used in their unique bourbon. The shifting Wisconsin weather also adds a richness to their bourbon as it's exposed to the changing temperatures from aging in a historic barn on the property.
Find out more at their website.
This Week's Recipe:
The J. Henry & Sons Seelbach Cocktail
- 2oz J. Henry & Sons Bourbon
- 1/2ozCointreau orange liqueur or Triple Sec
- 4 dashes Angostura bitters
- 3 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
- Add all ingredients into a stirring glass with ice, and stir for 30 seconds, then strain into a champagne flute.
- Top off with champagne, sparkling wine, or a sparkling rose’
- Garnish with an orange twist and/or a cherry dropped into the glass.
The Seelbach Cocktail is named for the hotel where it was created in 1918. Or was it? You’ll have to listen to find out the truth or tale behind this drink. Original story is here.
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Take a tour of our home bar and get some tips for your own!
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Make a list - drinks you like, drinks you make, and the ingredients and tools you need for those.
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Keep in mind you don’t have to have everything all at once. Build your collection slowly.
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Find a special place in your home or a unique piece of furniture to serve as your bar.
Having a designated spot makes entertaining easy!
This week’s recipe - “Make Their Own” Old Fashioneds
In a cocktail shaker, muddle together 6 sugar cubes, 6-10 shakes of bitters, 6 cocktail cherries, and half an orange, sliced and quartered. Pour in 8 oz bourbon or brandy, slowly over the muddler to get all the sugary goodness off of it. Add a few ices cubes to cool, and shake. Keep in cocktail shaker, guests can strain out 1.5 -2 oz into a jigger, pour into their rocks glass filled with ice, and top with a soda of their choice. Less work for you and more time to mingle with your guests!
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In this special extended episode, Leah talks Small Towns & Big Business with guest Melissa Werner. We've got advice for anyone thinking of moving to a small town, try a new non-alcoholic bourbon, and brainstorm for our businesses. Visit Melissa online at MelissaMachonWerner.com.
This week's NA Bourbon Old Fashioned:
- Barspoon of Simple Syrup
- Maruska Maraschino Cherry
- One Drop doTERRA Wild Orange Essential Oil
- Two Dashes each Aromatic and Citrus Bitters
- Ounce and a Half Spiritless Kentucky 74
- Muddle all together, add Spiritless, fill glass with ice and top with a clear sweet soda.
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Dictionary.com defines an expert as “a person who has special skill or knowledge in some particular field”. It’s super-easy to self-identify as an expert these days! I give some examples that I’ve run into lately and share a fantastic Old Fashioned recipe.
Godiva Chocolate Bourbon Old Fashioned
In a cocktail shaker muddle one sugar cube, 2 dashes of cherry bitters, and 2 dark maraschino cherries, add in 1oz Godiva chocolate liqueur and 2oz bourbon and stir. Rim a rocks glass with chocolate sauce (or hot fudge!), fill with ice, and pour in the contents of the cocktail shaker. Double or x4 the recipe in the shaker for sharing!
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In our early pursuits of the Best Old Fashioned in the Northwoods, we learned that it’s not just the ingredients, but the way a drink is fashioned (see what I did there?) that makes all the difference. Whether a drink is made with grumpiness or goodwill - it shows up in the taste - really it’s true!
Go on a date night on the town or stay home and make a few of these with your sweetie!
SOCO OF Tall - (Make this one with love...not an attitude!)
Muddle a sugar cube, orange wedge, maraschino cherry, and two shakes of bitters in a 16oz glass. Add 2oz of Southern Comfort, then fill the glass to top with ice. Add sweet or sour soda (depends on who you ask). Give it a quick stir and garnish as desired.
Secret Tip: After scooping out your maraschino cherries - make sure there’s a little bit of the juice left on the bar spoon before stirring the drink. Adds enough extra flavor to set your drinks apart!
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We’re celebrating ten whole episodes of Old Fashioned Friday! Today we talk about the rich history of Maker’s Mark Bourbon, the marketing genius that is Margie Samuel, PLUS how to get your own barrel of Maker’s Mark! (sort of, not really)
The Maker’s Mark Old Fashioned
- 2oz Maker’s Mark
- 2 Dashes Aromatic Bitters
- 1t Raw Cane Sugar
- Orange Peel
In an Old Fashioned glass, muddle together sugar, bitters, and a splash of Maker’s Mark. Fill the glass with ice or one large ice cube. Add 2oz bourbon and stir. Twist the orange peel over the glass to release the orange oil (you can also rub it on the rim of the glass), use the orange peel as garnish.
https://www.makersmark.com/cocktails/old-fashioned
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Entertaining over the years has certainly changed. Gatherings, especially up in the Northwoods, tend to be very much informal events. Hosting a formal cocktail party soon means I’m turning to Emily Post. Centerpiece? Check. Tablecloths? Check. Old Fashioneds on the menu? Of course!
Modern Old Fashioned from Tablespoon.com
- Orange Slice
- Lemon Slice
- Chopped Ripe Peach
- 1T Maple Syrup
- 2oz Bourbon
- 2 Dashes Bitters
- Peach Slice for Garnish
Muddle orange, lemon, chopped peach, syrup, and bitters in a cocktail shaker. Add in fine ice and bourbon, shake and then strain into an Old Fashioned glass prepared with one large ice cube. Garnish with a slice of the peach.
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How did the shot, or shot glass, get its name? There are a few theories out there, Lord only knows which one is true.
The two that are the most plausible to me, are -
- In the Wild West, the cost of a whiskey was the same price as a shotgun shell or bullet. If a cowboy was short on cash, he could exchange a bullet for a “shot” of whiskey.
- A German glassmaker named Friedrick Otto Schott designed the small glass. When imported to America, the name Schott glass became the Shot glass.
Listen to this week’s episode to hear the other stories on the Shot glass.
Old Fashioned Shot:
In a cocktail shaker, for each person having a shot, add one teaspoon sugar, 2 dashes of bitters, and 1.5 ounces of your favorite bourbon. Add ice to the cocktail shaker, shake and strain into shot glasses. Have an orange slice on hand for each person, and Tequila Shot Style, bite the orange and down your shot. Enjoy responsibly with trustworthy friends!
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They say that people’s greatest fear is of public speaking...I say it’s the fear of entering a new restaurant! Have you ever avoided going to a certain restaurant because you’ve never been there before and not sure what their “system” is? We ventured into a new place and I share the story. Plus friends of ours are taking over a restaurant and bar close to us so there will always be a place I know we’ll feel welcome!
Old Fashioneds for a Crowd:
- Pretty Pitcher
- Whole Orange, Sliced and Quartered
- 6-8 Maraschino Cherries
- 6-8 Sugar Cubes
- Aromatic Bitters
- Favorite Bourbon, Brandy, or Whiskey
- Favorite Clear Soda
Drop orange pieces and cherries into pitcher. Add sugar cubes. Wet sugar with 12 dashes of bitters.Muddle everything together...don’t go too crazy. Pour in 6-8 shots of your favorite spirit. Add a generous amount of ice...stir. Top with your favorite clear soda and enjoy with your favorite people!
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The tale of Stone Soup reminds us that life can be better with community. Life in the Northwoods can be a flow of helping out your neighbors when they need it, and accepting help when it’s your turn. After a busy week it’s time for an Old Fashioned!
This week’s recipe is a Grapefruit Honey Jack Old Fashioned:
- Whole Grapefruit
- Raw Cane Sugar
- Bitters
- Maraschino Cherry
- Simple Syrup
- Honey Jack Daniels
- Sparkling Water
Rim the rocks glass by dipping in a saucer of grapefruit juice (or try honey!), then in a second saucer of cane sugar. In a cocktail shaker, muddle a quarter slice of grapefruit, cherry, bitters, and simple syrup. Add 1.5 oz Honey Jack Daniels Whiskey and a tablespoon or so of grapefruit juice. Carefully pour into the prepared glass, filled with ice, and fill to the top with sparking water.
Enjoy! This is a favorite!
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Some might argue that the Old Fashioned Cocktail is woven more tightly into the fabric of Wisconsin, than cheese curds, beer, or even some certain football team. As Wisconsinites, we ceremoniously enjoy one or two Old Fashioneds after a hard week of work, ideally with close friends and fried fish.
For many, the ritual of an Old Fashioned is reserved for Friday nights in dark restaurants. On a now-long-ago camping trip, friends introduced us to another sacred space - shared experiences, and drinks, around a campfire.
The Southern Comfort Old Fashioned became our camping cocktail of choice. Southern Comfort was developed in 1874 by M.W. Heron. He set a goal of making whiskey more palatable, and achieved it by adding flavors of oranges, cherries, clove, vanilla, and honey. Just as Southern Comfort was gaining popularity, prohibition became the law and ended the progress. Heron didn’t live to see the success of his brand.
This week’s recipe - The Southern Comfort Old Fashioned
- Sugar Cube
- Maraschino Cherry and Juice
- Orange Slice, quartered
- Your Favorite “Camping” Tumbler
- Angostura Bitters
- 2oz Southern Comfort
- Sweet or Sour Soda
Add sugar cube, cherry, and orange into your favorite tumbler. Soften the sugar cube with cherry juice and bitters, and muddle gently together with fruit. Add in SoCo and fill to the top of the glass with ice, top off with your choice of a sweet or sour soda. Ideally enjoyed with friends around a campfire.
https://www.southerncomfort.com/our-story.html
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People move to the Northwoods to relive their childhood memories - of long summer days on the lakes, family walks under the pines, and campfires well into the night. Memories that made them feel at home.
Early Wisconsinites embraced Brandy as a spirit of choice for the same reason. Brandy reminded them of brandywine, a beverage made “back home” in Germany.
We got the Chicago World’s Fair and the Korbel Brothers to thank for that!
A Proper Wisconsin Old Fashioned
In a rocks glass, muddle one maraschino cherry, one orange slice, one sugar cube, and two dashes bitters together. Add one shot of either brandy, bourbon, or whiskey. Add a generous amount of ice and top with either sweet or sour soda. Stir briefly and serve with an orange slice.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_Columbian_Exposition
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Just like an unruly toddler who’s been told “no”, with the sale and distribution of alcohol now illegal, many Americans were forced to be creative in order to get what they wanted.
Thirteen years of prohibition in this country influenced how we drink, where we drink, and even what we drink. Newly elected President Roosevelt celebrated the repeal of prohibition by mixing a Dirty Martini!
Shhh! Canadian Whiskey was sometimes smuggled over the border - let’s use that today instead of trying the whiskey somebody made in their bathtub!
Canadian Whiskey Old Fashioned * 2oz Canadian Whiskey * a teaspoon of Triple Sec * 3 dashes Angostura Bitters * 3 dashes lemon juice * lemon rind and orange rind
Mix ingredients in a cocktail shaker and strain into an Old Fashioned glass. Garnish with lemon and orange.
http://www.thewhiskeyauthority.com/cocktails-recipes/canadian-old-fashioned/
https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/prohibition
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition_in_the_United_States
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2020 made many of us do crazy things. Me? I was so fed up one day, that I hit the “live” button and made a drink.
Come with me back to 1888, when a bartender at a saloon in Chicago cataloged his recipes in a book called The Bartender’s Manual. This is one of the first printed records of the cocktail we call the Old Fashioned.
Here’s his recipe, which may seem familiar:
In an Old Fashioned glass, take a teaspoon of sugar and dissolve with a bar spoon of water. Add a few dashes of Angostura bitters and a bar spoon of simple syrup. Twist a lemon peel over the mixture to release the oils, drop the peel into the glass. Add 2oz of whiskey and one large chunk of ice.
There was a time when this cocktail was served with a spoon to scoop out all that sugary goodness in the bottom of the glass! I think it’s about time for that tradition to be brought back, don’t you?
If you’ve come here looking for your Wisconsin Brandy Old Fashioned, don’t worry, I’ll get to it.
The Old-Fashioned, The Story of the World’s First Classic Cocktails with Recipes & Lore by Robert Simonson
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Before there was the Old Fashioned, there was the Whiskey Cocktail. The Whiskey Cocktail is more or less the precursor to what we know today as the Old Fashioned. Some people call the Whiskey Cocktail “The Grandfather of Them All”.
When comparing it to today’s Old Fashioneds, particularly of the sweet and fruity Wisconsin variety, I like to think of the Whiskey Cocktail as the kind of like the “Great Aunt” of today’s Old Fashioned (you know, the one with a little bit of a mustache and the husky voice).
The first official record we have of the Whiskey Cocktail was in 1862, when a bartender named Jerry Thomas created the first cocktail recipe book called “The Bartender’s Guide - How to Mix Drinks”.
His recipe is simple:
- 3-4 dashes of gum syrup (or a bar spoon of simple syrup)
- 2 dashes of bitters
- a “wine glass” of whiskey (about 2 ounces)
- a piece of lemon peel
- Fill a cocktail shaker ⅓ full of fine ice, shake, and strain into a fancy wine glass, typically over one large ice cube. Garnish with lemon peel.
So that’s it. That’s all there is to a whisky cocktail, no cherries, no maraschino cherry juice, no mix, no oranges, no soda or water. A far cry from some of the Old Fashioneds of today.
My apologies to Jerry Thomas, as for a while now I’ve been calling him Jeffrey. I didn’t have my reading glasses on and got his name wrong - and perpetuated the error ever since! I think I’ll make a Whiskey Cocktail in his honor - cheers, Jerry!
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