Tradesman's Bar, Vancouver, ~2009.
| 2 oz · 60 ml | BOURBON | 40 % |
| 1 cube | SUGAR CUBE | |
| 3 dashes | ANGOSTURA BITTERS | 44 % |
| 1 splash | WATER |
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
| Pre-batch | 2.34 oz mixed with ice, 0.84 oz of it pure alcohol |
|---|---|
| Melt | Stirred: +15 % of the pre-batch, +0.35 oz of water |
| Served | 2.34 + 0.35 = 2.69 oz in the glass |
| Strength | 0.84 ÷ 2.69 = 31.2 % ABV as served |
| Ethanol | 0.84 oz × 29.57 ml × 0.789 g/ml = 20 g · about 137 kcal from the alcohol alone |
FROM BOURBON · from oak barrel aging
Bourbon's fingerprint, extracted from the charred American oak the law requires for aging. Same molecule as the vanilla bean's signature, so a well-aged bourbon legitimately tastes like vanilla. Chemistry, not metaphor. Cognac, aged rum, tequila reposado all extract vanillin from oak too. Different barrels, same molecule.
ALSO IN Old Fashioned · Manhattan · Whiskey Sour · Paper Plane · Boulevardier · Sazerac · Espresso Martini · Mai Tai
FROM WOOD SMOKE · the smoky phenolic note
The smoke molecule. In peated scotch from burning peat over the malted barley; in mezcal from the underground roasting pit; in barbecue, smoked paprika, and bonfires. One molecule covering campfire, Islay whisky, and good carnitas. The brain files all three under "fire."
FROM ORANGE PEEL · citrus peel oil
An orange rind, squeezed, throws a spray that catches the light. That's d-limonene boiling off. It's roughly 95% of orange peel oil by mass, and the molecule that puts the "orange" in orange anything. Used industrially as a green solvent because the chemistry that dissolves citrus oils also dissolves greasy machinery. The expressed-peel garnish on a cocktail is delivering vaporized limonene to the rim of the glass.
ALSO IN Old Fashioned · Martini · Margarita · Gin & Tonic · Cosmopolitan · Mai Tai · Piña Colada · Hemingway Daiquiri
An Old Fashioned with applewood or hickory smoke. Guaiacol, 4-methylguaiacol and cresols from the burning wood enter the glass headspace and dissolve into the liquid's surface film. Each sip carries trace phenols that read as a landed version of a peaty Scotch.
Smoked cocktails entered the modern American repertoire in the late 2000s and early 2010s through bars such as Tradesman's in Vancouver and the Aviary in Chicago (opened 2011), which built smoke into their service. The Smoked Old Fashioned became the genre's emblem because it requires minimal ingredient adjustment from the original; the smoke does the work. Smoking guns (handheld smoking devices invented by PolyScience in 2008) made the technique practical for everyday bartending.
