Old Fashioned Friday

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!

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.

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!

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.

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 ;)

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.

Take a tour of our home bar and get some tips for your own!

1. Make a list - drinks you like, drinks you make, and the ingredients and tools you need for those.

2. Keep in mind you don’t have to have everything all at once. Build your collection slowly.

3. 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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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!

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!

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

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  -

1. 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.
2. 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!

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!

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!

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

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!