Are you a better bartender than Sally Draper?

Sally with an Old Fashioned - not muddled!

Sally Draper turns from the wooden desk, cradling a napkin under a light brown mixed drink, looking comfy in her striped and frilled pajamas.  She watches the top of the drink as she waddles over and gently hands it to her father, Don Draper, who sternly corrects her, “Muddled.  That means smash it.”

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, muddling is essentially using some sort of pestle-like grinder – either wooden, metal, or the underside of a tall shot glass – to smash and mix the sugar, bitters, cherries (and often an orange slice) in the bottom of a cocktail glass, creating a paste containing a unique mix of flavors to serve as the base of the drink.

My introduction to muddling was on a “guys weekend up north” a couple of years ago: my good buddy Eric convinced us to stop at a local hole-in-the-wall bar, simply because he knew they muddled their Old Fashioneds.  At the time, I thought this was a somewhat arbitrary reason to choose a certain bar, but he had recommended some pretty awesome places in the past, so we went for it.

A multitude of muddlers. (Image courtesy of scofflawsden.com/blog)

Maybe it was because we made a special stop for it, maybe it went well with the fish fry that soaked it up in my stomach, maybe it was because I was surrounded by blaze-orange, flannelled beer bellies and kitschy grandma sweatshirts, but, I must say, it was probably the best Old Fashioned I’d ever had.

If you’re a big fan of Old Fashioneds, you probably have your own recipe.  And, chances are, it’s different than everyone else’s recipe.  I’ve tried to find a “definitive” Old Fashioned recipe on the internet, but most of the top hits are blog posts with several dozen comments from bickering readers adamantly disagreeing about the recipe.  Some muddle only the sugar, bitters, and water; some smash the fruit, too; some don’t muddle at all.  Some use mix; some think mix is an abomination. Some use bourbon; some use rye; some use Scotch. Some use sweet or sour white soda; some use only a splash of water.  Some garnish with cherries; some garnish with a lemon twist.  But one think is for certain: you always use some type of whiskey.

Except in Wisconsin, of course, where most everyone prefers a Brandy Old Fashioned.

Can there ever be a consensus on the best Old Fashioned recipe?  Not bloody likely.  But if there ever was an authority on the subject of Old Fashioneds – even if he is a fictitious character pretending to be someone he’s not – it would be Don Draper.  And from what I can tell, he takes his with sugar, bitters, cherries, and an orange slice muddled, with ice, whiskey – decent bourbon; say my instincts – a splash of water, and another cherry garnish.

What do you think is the best Old Fashioned recipe?  Let’s start our own bickering session below!

Tagged as: cocktails, Mad Men, mixed drinks, muddle, muddling, Old Fashioned, television