For Christmas my good friend and co-worker Vincent put a book called The Old-Fashioned by Robert Simonson in my stocking. I was intrigued with its content. It’s a quick read with a ton of recipes but packed with what seems to be an honest history of the cocktail.

The Old-Fashioned is one of the original cocktails if not the original. There have been many stories, discussions and straight up arguments about where the drink originated from and who created it. I have heard a lot of stories over the years from bartenders, liquor reps and a whole slew of drink lovers.

What Mr. Simonson writes seems to have the most credibility and make the most sense. He states that the original drink was not named the Old-Fashioned but rather the whiskey cocktail. It was truly simple and consisted of spirit, sugar, bitters and water. This recipe makes much more sense than the fruit infused Old-fashioned we are accustom to this day in age since bars probably didn’t have a steady supply of fresh fruit in 1862 which is when the first mentioned in writing by Jerry Thomas was published. The book goes on about different ways of mixing the cocktail, what glass to serve it in, the size of the ice for the drink and so forth.

With all the time spent on tracking down the “right” way to make an Old-Fashioned we are left with a drink that has had such a long life in this world that naturally it has changed and adapted as bartenders started to experiment. Really it comes down to drink what you like so you like your drink!

So for this months drink of the month we are going to make the Old-Fashioned Whiskey Cocktail the simple way!!!

2 oz Whiskey (rye)

1 sugar cube

4 dashes bitters

Some large ice cubes

Lemon peel

Smash bitters and sugar cube. Add whiskey and ice then stir. Rub lemon peel around rim of glass and add lemon peel to drink.