Disclaimer: This one is totally Sweet & Sweaty style. Some like it with muddle and some don’t like any muddle at all. We like both versions, but for this lesson it’s going to be a Sweet and Sweaty style combo. And, we believe this will be a better whiskey cocktail gateway drink for everyone anyway.

In fact, there is even debate on which is the ‘right way’. The original Old Fashioned was made only with rye, sugar, bitters, water, and a lemon peel garnish. Many modern day cocktail artists take to sweetening up the joint by adding orange slices and maraschinos, they mix in soda water, and/or use bourbon more often than rye whiskey.

Let’s get to it though so you can get on with your weekend and enjoy this tasty beverage!

2 oz bourbon
.25 oz simple syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters
2 Maraschino cherries
1 orange slice, peeled
Tools: shot measure, mixing glass*, barspoon*, strainer*, pearing knife, muddler or a tiny whisk
Glass: old fashioned / tumbler (chilled)
Garnishes: lemon and orange twists
*Pictured in addendum at bottom of post

Note: We’re currently on a bottle of lower-shelf, Four Roses Bourbon Yellow and it makes a fine cocktail. Inexpensive and still satisfying.

Make your simple syrup as soon as you get home as it will take some time to cool. Also, put your Old Fashioned glass in the fridge or freezer to chill while you’re making the simple syrup:

Combine 1 cup of white sugar and 1 cup of water in a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Let it cool. An empty jar makes for a good storage receptacle! Store in the fridge once packaged. We’ve used simple syrup over the suggested 2-3 week ‘shelf-life’, so I wouldn’t fret too much. The best solution would be to label it and start over after 30 days.

Once your simple syrup is cooled, drop two ice cubes in your mixing glass. Next, add the simple syrup, bitters, cherries, and orange slice. Muddle the cherries and orange slice with the simple syrup. Add the bourbon and muddle some more.

Get your chilled glass, and drop in an oversized cube or two normal ice tray cubes. Strain the contents of the mixing glass over the ice in your chilled glass, and garnish with both lemon and orange twists/peels. We always like squeezing some zest from the peels over the drink and running the peels around the glass rim, before they adorn, or are dropped in the glass – awwww yeah.

This will certainly give you a sweeter version of the Old Fashioned. If you like to eat your drink while you drink it, like we do: use normal cubes vs. the oversized cube, forego straining, and then you’ll be able to easily stab and eat the fruit while you imbibe. Or… if you like a stronger drink, forego the orange slice and cherries all together!

We’d love to hear your feedback on this cocktail. Especially in regards to which version you like best of all, if you’ve done some experimentation. Enjoy responsibly and have a great weekend!

-The Sweet and Sweaty

*Addendum – mixing glass, barspoon, and strainer

This bittersweet gin, juice, and aperitif elixir is sure to warm you up while you battle any snowstorm or if you just want to snazz up brunch!

It’s back to the complexity this week with the aperitif wine, Lillet Blanc, orange bitters, and a fancier cherry. Don’t worry though folks, these ingredients will pay back in spades with upcoming cocktails, recipes, and suggestions from yours truly!

1.5 oz gin
.75 oz Lillet Blanc
.75 oz freshly squeezed orange juice (cut a nice navel in half & juice it!)
2 dashes orange bitters
Tools: shot measure, cocktail shaker/strainer, garnish stick
Glass: coupe (pictured above) or a cocktail glass
Garnish: Bada Bing cherry (fancier than a maraschino; natural ingredients & no preservatives)

Drop 3 ice cubes into your shaker. Pour all the ingredients except the cherry over the ice. Shake it like you mean it, until the shaker is chilly to the touch. Pour through your shaker’s strainer into a coupe or cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.

Tip on the Bada Bings: We have found these delicious cherries at Whole Foods Market and local speciality foods stores. They are less expensive vs. Luxardo’s and they still do the trick. We even add these cherries, with a splash of the cherry juice, to simpler club soda & vodka mixed drinks – it really enhances the flavor!

Background on the Abbey Cocktail:
This is a variation on the classic made famous by The Savoy Cocktail Book (Harry Craddock; 1930). Brad Thomas Parsons, author of Bitters (2011), marries Lillet Blanc and orange bitters from Dale DeDroff’s recipe found in The Craft of the Cocktail (2002). Parsons is spot-on in that the bittersweet orange flavor of the Lillet compliments the freshly squeezed OJ and the orange bitters.

Good luck with any snow that might come, stay safe, and as always… enjoy responsibly folks!

-The Sweet and Sweaty

Let’s get back to basics folks with this week’s cocktail – The Dirty Martini (at the request of some who read last week’s more complex installment – The Vieux Carré).

The Dirty Martini is a great way to ease into martinis, as the salty addition of brine/olive juice cuts the bite out of the gin, while also calming the fumes of the dry vermouth.

The Dirty Martini is also more versatile vs. your Classic Martini (traditionally just gin, dry vermouth, and a lemon twist), because not only can you play with the measure of dry vermouth in a Dirty, but you can also regulate the amount of brine/olive juice to your taste.

My father liked his martinis so dry (very light on the vermouth), that he would request a dehumidifier on the side. He’s probably why I’m a fan of ‘dry’ as well, but for the purpose of this lesson we’re going to try a more ‘perfect’ mixture of 3-to-1 for the spirits. As this is a better place to start before you make your own adjustments:

3 oz. gin
1 oz. dry vermouth
1/2 oz. juice from olive jar (experiment with a bit more the 2nd time – you might like it better!)
Tools: shot measure, cocktail shaker/strainer, garnish stick
Glass: martini
Garnish: olives

Drop 4 ice cubes into your shaker. Pour the gin, dry vermouth, and olive juice over the ice. Shake like a madman, until the shaker is freezing to the touch. Pour through your shaker’s strainer (hopefully it’s dual purpose) into a martini glass. Garnish with at least 3 olives.

The resulting clarity should be cloudy. Ours will be deeply cloudy due to upping the juice measure. We’ll also typically do 4-5 olives because that’s just how we roll. And, as we always say, it’s more fun to eat and drink while you drink your drink.

Bombay Sapphire is our go-to gin and Martini & Rossi for the dry vermouth. As for the olives, we bought a ‘fancier’ jar over the holidays (in pic toward top), but we normally buy what’s on sale. Tip: The easiest jar to work with as far as pulling olives and pouring the juice is from Reese – they’re tasty & convenient!

Let us know what your favorite mix of measures is for the Dirty. Others may benefit from your tastes/experimentation! Enjoy responsibly folks and have a great weekend!

-The Sweet and Sweaty

As you’ll come to find with us, great cuisine and drink establishments add even more of an attraction to the events we attend. In the words of one of our favorite bands, we Seek & Destroy.

We first seek out an entire list of possibilities well in advance, filter based on reviews, uniqueness, history, word-of-mouth, past experience, and reservation availability, and then launch our attack with precision. Note: longer trips do include more cultural and historical attractions outside of food and beverages, but we’re only talking about a night out / pre-concert in this case. 

Hence this article, because if you commit to an event at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY, we promise you’ll have more to cheer about than just the show.

Treat yourself to a pre-dinner drink at Rye House – at the corner of Willet & Main St. It’s a 5 minute walk from The Cap and less from Metro North if you’ve trained it in. Tip: Take Broad St. or King St. over to Willet Ave. (from either location) to avoid the congestion of where Westchester Ave. meets Main St.

We have yet to try the food at Rye House, only because we have another place we haven’t strayed from yet (we’ll write about that soon). But, we have only had great experiences with the  craft beer and cocktail selection at Rye House.

It’s also a great, open but cozy atmosphere with a very friendly staff and you will tend to see the same cocktail artisans doing their magic behind the bar. Sit at the bar as they are always doing something interesting to observe. We’ve seen these professionals actively cooking their own simple syrup, infusing their next special spirit for mixing, comparing all the bitters in their arsenal, filling pourers with freshly squeezed juice, and preparing herbs and citrus fruits for the night ahead. During your visit, you’ll be immersed in the school of what it takes to craft cocktails.

City Harvest:
Persimmon-infused Four Roses Bourbon, Cocchi Vermouth di Torino, lemon, and clove – topped with bourbon-soaked persimmon!

Eat the persimmon, it’s earthy and tastes like a cube of ‘fall’, but it actually adds to sipping the City Harvest. For a cold drink on a cold day, it certainly warms you up!

The Riddler:
Green tea-infused vodka, St. Germain, honey, cucumber, mint.

The mint rang through in this concoction more than the green tea, but that may be up to your own taste buds. It was still very delicious and at $10-$12 a pop, their cocktails are worth every penny in their potency, freshness, complexity, and craftsmanship.

If Rye House’s cocktail selection isn’t enough for you, there is always a wide variety of top-notch brews available on tap, or in bottles & cans.

Since it’s not distributed in CT, we were overjoyed to indulge in a Jai Alai from Cigar City Brewing (Tampa, FL). This IPA can definitely go toe-to-toe with our New England favorites in The Alchemist’s Heady Topper, Lawson’s Sip Of Sunshine, or New England Brewing Company’s G-Bot.

See, it’s almost like we’ve had a full night even before dinner or the show we attended! Stay tuned for more on a pre-event restaurant and other tips on visiting Port Chester and The Capitol Theatre.

-The Sweet and Sweaty

Rye House PC
126 N. Main St., Port Chester, NY
ryehousepc.com
@ryehouseportchester 
RyeHousePC (Twitter)
ryehousepc (Instagram)

Rye House NYC
17th St. (Union Square neighborhood)
New York City, NY