Brandy Old Fashioned
Brandy, a sugar cube, Angostura, muddled orange and cherry, topped with lemon-lime soda. Wisconsin's state cocktail — sweeter and fruitier than the whiskey Old Fashioned, and ordered 'sweet', 'sour' or 'press'.
Built to the standard modern spec; not yet tested in our kitchen. How we test.
The recipe.
Scaling adjusts quantities only. Prepare shaken drinks in individual portions.
Let’s make a good drink.
Put the sugar cube in a rocks glass, soak it with the bitters, and add the orange slice and cherry.
Muddle until the sugar is broken down and the orange has given up its juice and oil.
Add the brandy and fill the glass with ice.
Top with lemon-lime soda, stir once, and garnish with a fresh orange slice and cherry.
A thoughtful finish
- Korbel brandy is the Wisconsin bottle; any smooth, inexpensive brandy works.
- 'Press' — half lemon-lime soda, half club soda — is the best balance for most people.
- Muddle the orange flesh, not the peel's white pith.
Common mistakes
- Treating it like a craft Old Fashioned; the fruit and soda are the point.
- Skipping the bitters, which are what keep the sweetness in check.
- A fine cognac; it is wasted here.
A few good questions.
What does a Brandy Old Fashioned taste like?
Sweet brandy with orange, cherry, bitters and fizz — a fruity, easy supper-club drink.
Sweet, sour or press?
Sweet is lemon-lime soda; sour is Squirt or sour mix; press is half lemon-lime and half club soda.
Why brandy in Wisconsin?
German immigrant taste and the 1893 World's Fair, where Korbel's California brandy found its Midwestern market.
Can I make it with whiskey?
Then it is a Wisconsin whiskey Old Fashioned, which also exists.
Variations
- Old Fashioned — Whiskey, sugar and bitters.
- Brandy Smash — Brandy, lemon, sugar and mint.
- Horse's Neck — Brandy or whiskey, ginger ale and a long lemon peel.
- Brandy Crusta — Cognac, curaçao, lemon and a sugar rim.
Where it comes from
c. 1890s · Wisconsin, United States
Wisconsin drinks more Korbel brandy than the rest of the United States combined, a habit that dates to the German immigrants of the 1800s and the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, where California brandy was shown to Midwesterners who adopted it as their whiskey. The state’s Old Fashioned grew from that: brandy with a sugar cube and Angostura, an orange slice and a cherry muddled in, over ice, and topped with soda — ‘sweet’ means 7-Up or Sprite, ‘sour’ means Squirt or sour mix, ‘press’ means half lemon-lime soda and half club soda, and ‘soda’ means plain. It is the supper-club drink of Wisconsin, served with a Friday fish fry, and it is a different animal from the craft-bar Old Fashioned: fruity, fizzy and sweet on purpose.
Sources
- Jeanette Hurt, Wisconsin Cocktails, 2020 (book)
- Robert Simonson, The Old-Fashioned, 2014 (book)
- Difford's Guide, Wisconsin Old Fashioned, 2016 (reference)
Strength. About 1.4 US standard drinks at an estimated 17% ABV, estimated from the ingredients and technique, not measured. What that means.
A little character in every sip.
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