Stone Fence
| 2 fl oz | Straight rye whiskey (100 proof /50% alc./vol.) |
| Top up with | Medium dry apple cider |
How to make
Glassware
Serve in a Pint glass
Prepare
- Select and pre-chill a PINT GLASS.
- No garnish to prepare.
Method
- POUR both ingredients into ice-filled glass.
- Briefly STIR.
Garnish
- Serve naked, without garnish.
Health & Nutrition
Nutrition:
One serving of Stone Fence contains 133 calories
Alcohol content:
- 1.7 standard drinks
- 39.37% alc./vol. (78.74° proof)
- 23.7 grams of pure alcohol
History
One of America's oldest mixed drinks, with origins in mid-18th century New England, where rum and cider (what Americans term "hard cider") were plentiful and popular, the Stone Fence, then also known as a Sampson, emerged as a simple mix of the two.
Legend associates the Stone Fence with the American Revolutionary War, particularly with Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys, who reputedly fortified themselves drinking Stone Fences before capturing Fort Ticonderoga from the British on 10th May 1775.
By the 19th century, whiskey had largely replaced rum, with apple juice [often termed "sweet cider" in America] often replacing cider in a Stone Fence. Jerry Thomas included such a Stone Fence recipe, with bourbon, in his 1862 The Bar-tenders Guide.
Stone Fence.
Jerry Thomas, The Bar-tenders Guide, 1862
(Use large bar glass)
1 wine-glass of whiskey (Bourbon).
2 or 3 small lumps of ice.
Fill up with sweet cider.
The trend for softening this drink with juice doesn't seem to have travelled to England, where William Terrington included a Stone Fence, made with whiskey, cider and shaved ice in his 1869 book Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks, published in London [where "cider" was and remains a fermented alcoholic drink and apple juice is just that. The use of "cider" for apple juice is a confusing Americanism].
Stone Fence.
William Terrington, Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks, 1869
Gill of whisky, ½ pint of cider, ½ pint of shaved ice.
Indeed, during the 1880s and 1900s, the Stone Fence, based on variously bourbon, rye, applejack and sometimes cognac, appears in other bartending manuals. This includes William Boothby's 1891 Cocktail Boothby's American Bar-Tender, which also identifies Stone Wall as "another name for a Stone Fence."
Review
Dry cider fortified and made drier by rye whiskey.
Variations/similar cocktails
Substitute cognac with calvados, Scotch, bourbon or rum.
Stone Fence by the Venning brothers
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