Directions
What follows is a recipe from the first printed book of cocktail recipes, How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon Vivant’s Companion, written by Jerry Thomas, a well-known mixologist of the time. Unlike the modern Old-Fashioned, this one calls for no ice, uses syrup in place of sugar, and is served in a stemmed glass as opposed to a typical Old-Fashioned or rocks glass.
Thomas probably drank whiskey that was at the time widely consumed in the Eastern United States. He orders two ounces, or a “wine glass,” of whiskey. If you don’t have access to Boker’s, a popular aromatic bitters during the time the book was written, you can use Angostura or another aromatic bitters with a similar character.
The recommended amount of gum syrup can be substituted with a half barspoon of simple syrup. If you insist on using gum syrup, manufacturers like Small Hands Foods offer it. You might opt for something sweeter, but there is a certain beauty in the simplicity of this drink’s drier iteration.
If “fine” ice is specified, cracked will be ok. No such thing as a “Old-Fashioned glass” existed in the era in question; for a period-appropriate cocktail, you’ll need a small, squat wineglass of around 6 ounces’ worth of capacity. Thomas’s book from 1887 had a recipe for an “Improved Whiskey Cocktail” that called for absinthe and maraschino liqueur, both added in small amounts.
Ingredients
- 4 dashed of gum syrup
- 2 dashes of Boker’s bitters
- 1 wine-glass of whiskey and a piece of lemon peel
How to make the Whiskey cocktail
Fill one-third of fine ice, shake and strain in a fancy red wine glass.
