Cocktail Concoctions & Connections

Of Brandy and Badgers and Things Old Fashioned

I recall my parents mentioning the Old Fashioned cocktail frequently as happy hour or party time approached in our home. But being primarily a beer and wine man for most of my adult drinking life, I had never given that whiskey drink much thought when my own happy hours rolled around.

However, a 3-week road trip of the American northwest in 2019 re-introduced me to the Old Fashioned. It seemed that every California or Oregon bar we found ourselves in before dinner was highlighting an Old Fashioned. I tried several. Each bartender had his own twist on making one. Thus, I spent time picking their brains for insights into the preparation process. I had hoped to recreate our vacation’s happy hour enjoyment at home upon our return.

This I certainly did, playing with the various components of the drink until arriving at my own home go-to recipe.

My Old Fashioned with Passion

2 ounces of Kentucky Bourbon

0.5 ounces of Cointreau

Tsp of cardamom clove syrup

Splashes of aromatic and orange bitters

Stir all ingredients with ice in mixing glass and strain into a rocks glass with one large ice cube. Garnish with a Luxardo cherry and a charred orange peel.

History

But, before the concocting, there must be connecting. In the early 1800s, people defined the first cocktails as a mix of spirits, sugar, bitters, and water. They called the ancestor of the Old Fashioned simply a Whiskey Cocktail, whiskey being the spirits portion of that definition. Initially, partakers of cocktails preferred gin and rum mixtures over the Whiskey Cocktail. However, some doctors did recommend it as a drink before breakfast to help with one’s complexion (code word for hangover). Forget the makeup, Ethel, just pop a few cocktails before coming down to “face” the day. As the years passed, having American whiskey as its base, people saw it as the drink for American drinkers. The military even rationed it out to soldiers as part of their provisions during the Civil War.

By the 1880’s, the drink had been around long enough for bartenders’ irresistible tinkering urges to produce changes. There were many variations with additives and adornments. So, one’s request for a Whiskey Cocktail might not have produced desired results. By the time of Prohibition, a speakeasy might offer a Whiskey Cocktail unrecognizable in comparison to the original. Thus, the popularity of the drink languished.

In 1936, on the other side of Prohibition, a man known only as “Old Timer,” wrote an article in the New York Times, reflecting on the past as follows. “Consider, for instance, the Old-Fashioned cocktail. Time was when the affable and sympathetic bartender moistened a lump of sugar with Angostura bitters, dropped in a lump of ice, neither too large nor too small, stuck in a miniature bar spoon and passed the glass to the client with a bottle of good bourbon from which said client was privileged to pour his own drink.” That’s right, the bartender handed him the whole darn bottle. Oh, for the good old days.

Calling the drink an “Old Fashioned” became a reference to the drink returning to its recipe’s roots. Whether it was made true to those roots or not, it took on that new name and resumed its popularity. But, the roller coaster ride of popularity has both ups and downs. Down went popularity in the 1960’s, when vodka cocktails began to overtake whiskey. Up it went again in 2007, getting a boost from the Mad Men TV series. It was featured as the cocktail of choice for those hard-charging advertisers of Madison Avenue. And, it has stayed on a high with the surging craft cocktail craze and its focus on the classics.

A Brandy Version

The Old Fashioned has undergone many alterations and been the subject of much debate over its 200-year lifetime. But, for the particular focus of this essay, my Wisconsin neighbors Bob and Bev have influenced me. They have proudly touted the Wisconsin Brandy Old Fashioned (unofficially, the Badger State Drink). The question is, why does the standard bourbon get replaced by brandy when you venture into the supper clubs of Wisconsin? For the answer to this connection question, we need more history.

Once upon a time, a young man in Europe, Francis Korbel became involved in the stormy Bohemian Revolution of 1848. Francis fled Bohemia and immigrated to New York. Then, spurred on by stories of the California Gold Rush, he and his brothers Joseph, Winsel, and Anton moved to San Francisco. Eventually, the Korbel brothers found opportunity in the booming lumber business and opened a sawmill in the Russian River Valley of Sonoma County. Francis was one of many immigrants from wine-growing regions of Europe, who recognized the Sonoma climate as ideal for fine winemaking. He cultivated a vineyard, and using the traditional methods perfected in Europe, he mastered the art of producing champagnes and handcrafted brandies.

In 1889, the Korbel brothers began distributing their California Brandy. But, they needed to give their product greater exposure to the rest of America and the world. And here once again, the mists of my imagination begin to blur historic fact as another scene from the chronicles of cocktail connections unfolds…

Horst Vogel, Norbert Schmidt, and Otto Müller were friends from Milwaukee who like thousands of other German-American Wisconsinites had made their way south to the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. It was May 1, a beautiful sunny opening day for the Fair, and the three young men were having the time of their lives among the huge throng of 400,000 attendees.

They had toured the Midway, eyes open in utter amazement as they took in the sights, and had enjoyed several wonderful rides including a huge new circular thing called a Ferris Wheel. Now Horst and his two friends were wandering the many exhibition halls, including the Great Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building. The 32-acre building was the world’s largest by footprint and volume. They had marveled at new inventions and products like the washing machine, a little thing called a zipper, Shredded Wheat, and Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix. They had even sampled a tasty snack offered by a fellow German American immigrant, Frederick Rueckheim. Ruekheim called his snack Cracker Jack. Horst now gazed down the long line of exhibition booths, wondering what marvel to check out next. His searching eye’s fell upon a nearby exhibition crowded like no other.

Earlier that week, Francis Korbel and his brothers had been busy putting the finishing touches on their booth, intent on introducing their new California-produced brandy to the masses of gawking fairgoers. Francis had decided that the best way to sell the many cases they had hauled from their California vineyard would be to hand out free samples of some delicious brandy cocktail.

 “Anton! Joseph! What can we make with our brandy to excite all these potential customers?”

 His brother Anton had replied, “I was at a saloon called The Green Mill down on North Broadway last night, and they served up a wonderful Old Fashioned. Maybe we can mix up some of those with our brandy instead of whiskey.”

 “Great idea,” Francis had exclaimed. “Joseph, hitch up the horses. We need supplies fast!”

 Before long they had gathered enough bitters, sugar, and citrus from Chicago warehouses to mix up a huge batch of the “Brandy Old Fashioned” to dole out to their expected visitors.

 And now, as Horst, Norbert, and Otto approached the booth labeled “Korbel Brothers California Vineyards,” the crowd was distinctly German-American, and they recognized several neighbors from their Milwaukee home. Smiling, the young men waded into the boisterous friendly crowd.

 “Hey, Norbert,” yelled a familiar face. “I feel like I’m back in the old country. You gotta try this free brandy drink!”

As the days passed, the throngs of World’s Fair visitors from Wisconsin would journey back north to their homes in Milwaukee and nearby towns. They were still full of amazement from the sights they had seen. And, they had suitcases and carriages loaded with wonderful products and mementos of the trip. Most of those Wisconsinites favored one particular product. Bottles of Korbel Brandy were lovingly packed in nearly every suitcase. The rest is Wisconsin Brandy Old Fashioned history. To this day Korbel sells more brandy in Wisconsin than anywhere else in the world.

Despite the recent reports by Korbel that those busy drinking badgers of Wisconsin grab up 55 percent of their world distribution of brandy, author Jeanette Hurt offers additional explanation for the brandy connection in her book, Wisconsin Cocktails. According to Hurt, she spent two months going down the rabbit hole of the Brandy Old Fashioned history. She concluded that maybe the World’s Fair tale is just cocktail lore and not the real story. She noted that more than a century ago, Wisconsinites drank Old Fashioneds the way everyone else did, with whiskey, bitters and a bit of sugar. So, looking for when and why the change to brandy occurred, she did some detailed investigation in Wisconsin newspaper records.

She read an old Milwaukee Journal article where a reporter discovered a man who had been in the Wisconsin liquor distribution business from post-Prohibition to the ’70s. The distributor recalled that there was a lot of bad liquor being served during and right after World War II. This was, in part, due to distilleries having to shut down as grain was sent to Europe. However, as the war ended, Wisconsin distributors discovered a motherlode of around 30,000 cases of very good, aged Christian Brothers brandy. Given a choice between mixing drinks with awful whiskey and rum, or a good brandy, the Wisconsin drinking public made the right decision. Post-WWII brandy cocktail consumption in Wisconsin surged.

The Concoction

Regardless of whether Korbel or Christian Brothers provided the impetus for lots of Brandy finding its way to the Badger State, Wisconsinites love their Brandy Old Fashioneds. And, they have distinct rules on how they should be made. Besides learning a lot from neighbors Bob and Bev and some online research, I consulted the main source for all things Wisconsin. I’m referring to the Emmy Award-winning journalist, comedian, and die-hard Wisconsinite, Charlie Berens. Crimen Alfrighty, you have got to watch Charlie Berens on YouTube, teaching how to make a Wisconsin Brandy Old Fashioned.

https://youtu.be/sPGrvymxFnk

What I learned from Charlie is: 1) Throw away all your nice bar tools. You just need a hammer (ice breaker), a buck knife (orange cutter and stirrer), and a paper clip (garnish holder); 2) Measure your brandy amount by the finger method. Four fingers worth is necessary for filling out the census, which was why Charlie needed an Old Fashioned in the first place; 3) Always include a floater (also called a wash or a topper), Sprite or 7-up for sweet, Jolly Good Sour Power (Wisconsin version of Squirt) for sour, or club soda for boring; and 4) Don’t bring a Brandy Old Fashioned to Grampa without garnishes or he’ll hit you upside the head with the Good Book.

All kidding aside, there are three things to consider when making the Brandy (or Milwaukee) Old Fashioned. The first is whether to muddle or not. I might choose to have a drink with more fruitiness and get some use out of my muddler. That would involve muddling an orange slice, a maraschino cherry, a sugar cube and a few dashes of Angostura bitters in the bottom of the glass. Care should be taken not to muddle the orange rind.

After adding ice and an appropriate number of fingers of brandy, the next choice is how to wash, top, or float the drink, a necessary aspect of a true Wisconsin Old Fashioned. In addition to Charlie’s sweet, sour, and boring versions, there is also a “press” style that involves adding a combination of 7-up and seltzer. Don’t ask me where the term press comes from.

That brings us to the last decision, how to garnish the cocktail. Garnishment is not an option, but what to use as garnishment is. Cherries and an orange slice are obvious choices. However, in some bars and supper clubs you might find olives, pickled mushrooms, or even pickled brussels sprouts.

Based on the original definition and the Old Timer’s description, the classic recipe includes 3 things…bourbon, sweetener, and bitters. That seems pretty prescriptive. But, for those like me with a tendency to tinker, consider the multitude of combinations available when one applies a little libationary license to those three items.

The spirit: bourbon, rye, Canadian whisky, brandy…or even dark rum, scotch, aged tequila.

The sweet: sugar cube, granulated sugar, simple syrup, maple syrup, or a multitude of other flavored syrups.

The bitter: angostura aromatic bitters, orange bitters, cherry bitters or a vast array of new wildly flavored bitters.

And then there may be other additives applied such as club soda, Sprite, Fresca or liqueurs.

My personal preference is to not water down a good whiskey or brandy in any way. Therefore, I make my Old Fashioneds with none or at most a bare minimum of floater. However, that is the great thing about crafting cocktails, you can always ‘have it your way.’

With today’s focus on resurrecting and revamping the classic drinks, the Old Fashioned in all its forms sits atop the list as currently the most popular cocktail in the world. It is an essential element of any bartender’s drink repertoire, since many experts conclude there’s no better cocktail for allowing American whiskey (or Brandy for that matter) to shine. Its trail through history, for the time being, has climbed to a pinnacle. It now basks in the sunshine (along with the Martini) as an American institution. And if you ever visit the great state of Wisconsin, remember that, in the words of Charlie Berens, “Crimen Alfrighty! If anyone asks for an Old Fashioned with whiskey, tell them to go back to Illinois.”

The Old Fashioned Recipes