The Aesthete Abroad

Off to New Orleans for Mardi Gras; when I return, I will be exploring cocktails specific to that city.  The following is a photograph of the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum.  I'd really love to have one of these to decorate my home someday.

 

On my list of cocktails to explore is the Sazerac (perhaps the first cocktail of all cocktails), the Hurricane, and Absinthe Frappé.  If you have any suggestions, please feel free to mention them in the comments.

An Old-Fashioned Old Fashioned

We decided to make Old Fashioned cocktails the other night, after we discovered that we had all the necessary ingredients. The recipe originates from George J. Kappeler's formidable book Modern American Drinks: How to Mix and Serve All Kinds of Cups and Drinks, published in 1895.

Old-Fashioned Whiskey Cocktail

Dissolve a small lump of sugar with a little water in a whiskey glass; add two dashes Angostura bitters, a small piece of ice, a piece lemon peel, one jigger whiskey. Mix with small bar spoon and serve, leaving spoon in glass.

A jigger is equal to 1.5 ounces and 44 milliliters.


Everything assembled; we realized that the maraschino cherries were not necessary for the 1895 version after we took the photograph. You can include them if you like, but we garnished with the lemon peel alone.

Before we put in the whiskey. As demonstrated above, we obviously used Bourbon whiskey. Kappeler's recipe doesn't specify what sort to use, but Bourbon is traditionally held to be what one puts into an Old Fashioned.

In conclusion,

A good drink at the proper time
Has a welcome in every clime

-George J. Kappeler, Modern American Drinks: How to Mix and Serve All Kinds of Cups and Drinks, 1895.