Classics with a Twist: The Brandy Old Fashioned (2024)

FAQs

What is the best brandy for an Old Fashioned? ›

In most bars, these co*cktails are made with Korbel brandy. Another good choice is to pick up a bottle of Central Standard North 40 Brandy.

For the unfamiliar, the old fashioned co*cktail in just about every place other than Wisconsin is traditionally made with a whiskey, like bourbon, sugar and bitters. But in Wisconsin, brandy usually replaces whiskey — and it's most often poured over a mixture of muddled cherries, orange slices, sugar and bitters.

The Wisconsin variation came about post-World War II when liquor distributors in Wisconsin found a cache of around 30,000 cases of quality brandy that they sold, which became more popular than the bad whiskey that was sold during the war, according to the book "Wisconsin co*cktails."

Wisconsin crowns the brandy old fashioned as the official state co*cktail : NPR. Wisconsin crowns the brandy old fashioned as the official state co*cktail Lawmakers in Wisconsin have passed a resolution declaring the state's official co*cktail: the brandy old fashioned.

brandy: It's traditional to use Korbel (Core-bell) brandy in a Wisconsin old fashioned, but at the end of the day, any decent brandy will do. If you really can't stand to use brandy, just swap for bourbon. 7-up, sprite, squirt, or club soda: Totally your choice here based on whether you want it sweet, sour, or press.

If you order an Old Fashioned in 49 out of 50 states, you can expect a whiskey co*cktail made with sugar, water and bitters, typically Angostura. In Wisconsin, however, the Old Fashioned ditches convention. Wisconsinites swap their whiskey for a brandy-based mixture served one of three ways: sweet, sour or press.

SOME CALL IT A KAROO MARTINI; OTHERS REFER TO IT AS FIGHTING JUICE. WHATEVER THE NAME IT'S GIVEN, THERE IS NO DENYING THAT BRANDY AND co*kE IS A PART OF SOUTH AFRICAN CULTURE.

There's no wrong way to order an Old Fashioned, simply state what you want and how you want it. Start by saying the type of whisky you fancy, followed by any tweaks you want to make. It could be with a twist, an extra dash of bitters or syrup instead of sugar.

With that said, bourbon is often the go-to whiskey choice for an Old Fashioned. The relatively heavy body of the mostly corn-based spirit creates structure within the co*cktail, and its natural sweetness helps counterbalance the more astringent elements of bitters.

To this day Wisconsin buys copious amounts -- roughly a third of the brandy Korbel produces every year goes to Wisconsin. Now, if you remember, the liquor in the Whiskey co*cktail/Old Fashioned was interchangeable, so those brandy-loving Wisconsinites swapped out whiskey for brandy and the Brandy Old Fashioned was born.

What is the top selling brandy in Wisconsin? ›

It may surprise some to learn that the Badger State consumes more brandy than anywhere else in the United States. In 2019, Wisconsinites accounted for more than half of the worldwide sales of Korbel brandy.

Wisconsin drinks more brandy than any other state, and most of our brandy consumption goes into the Wisconsin old fashioned – a muddle of sugar, bitters, orange and maraschino cherries topped with brandy and then sweet or sour soda and a bevy of garnishes.

Similarly, for the past few decades, the old-fashioned has been seen as a man's drink, but after Prohibition, the old-fashioned was one of the most popular drinks ordered by women. Understanding this connection between women and co*cktail culture places women back into a story that popular culture has removed them from.

Glass: The Old Fashioned is one of the few drinks in existence that has a glass named in its honor. The ideal glass should be between eight to 10 ounces, with a thick heavy bottom. Ice: This is a sipping co*cktail, but you don't want that expensive booze turning into a watery mess.

Wisconsin's Twist on a Classic — The Brandy Old Fashioned

Did you know Wisconsin consumes the most brandy per capita in the country? Part of the reason is due to our official state co*cktail, the Brandy Old Fashioned. It's the Old Fashioned co*cktail you know and love, with brandy in place of whiskey.

The main difference between the two co*cktails lies in the sweeteners used in each. The Old Fashioned calls for sugar, either as a cube or in simple syrup format (where sugar is dissolved into water), whereas the Manhattan employs sweet vermouth, a type of fortified wine.