Brandy Old Fashioned (Wisconsin-style)

Serve in an

Photographed in an

Garnish:

Orange wheel slice & Luxardo Maraschino Cherry sail

How to make:

MUDDLE first 4 ingredients in base of glass. Add brandy and 6oz scoop crushed ice.

Review:

Fruity and lightly sweetened brandy cooled and diluted with crushed ice. What's not to like?

The Brandy Old-Fashioned is usually made using Californian bandy or another domestic brandy, and depending on the sweetness of your brandy you may want to reduce the sugar syrup in this recipe. Use a wedge, rather than a slice, of orange as when muddled a slice breaks up too much leaving unsightly debris in the drink.

In Wisconsin, the Brandy Old Fashioned is also usually finished with a splash of 7-Up or Sprite (if ordered "sweet"), or Squirt (if the bar call is "sour") or a combination of 7-Up/Sprite and soda water (if requested "press").

History:

The muddled fruit Old-Fashioned seems to have arisen due to masking poor quality whiskey during Prohibition and in America lingered as the prevailing way to make an Old-Fashioned into the mid-1990s. Helped by Jeffrey Morganthaler, as muddling fruit in the whisky-based Old-Fashioned has faded so muddling fruit in the brandy brandy-based version has grown in popularity, particularly in Wisconsin where a Brandy Old-Fashioned is the state drink.

Alcohol content:

• 1.7 standard drinks
• 37% alc./vol. (74° proof)
• 24.3 grams of pure alcohol