![]() ![]() It’s pretty much a template for other recipes on this list, in the sense that it swaps the rum out for bourbon, and other ingredients for ones that classically play well with bourbon-lemon juice instead of lime, and the addition of pineapple, which has long been one of bourbon’s best complementary flavors. It supposedly hails from the House Without a Key, the famous bar/lounge of the Halekulani Hotel in Hawaii, having been created at some point in the 1930s. And even for seasoned tiki fans, these whiskey-based drinks make for quite a novel change of pace.Īlmost certainly the oldest cocktail in this list, the Halekulani is like a textbook on how to adapt a rum-based tiki cocktail into one that instead features whiskey. ![]() If you’re an American whiskey geek who has never really dabbled in rum-although you really should-consider these cocktails a way to dip a more familiar toe into the world of tiki. ![]() So, what makes a bourbon or rye cocktail “tiki” if not for the rum? Well, it’s the same things you associate with any other classic tiki drinks-often an array of juices, along with accents from syrups, liqueurs and spice drams. And that includes the most American spirit of all, whiskey. Indeed, you can find a tiki drink recipe that contains almost any spirit imaginable. Two of the legendary Trader Vic’s most famous creations, the Fog Cutter and the Scorpion Bowl, each prominently feature other spirits in addition to rum-the Scorpion Bowl has brandy, while the potent Fog Cutter calls for brandy and gin. Put them together, and you have the tiki drink-cocktails defined by their long lists of exotic sounding juices, syrups, cordials and liqueurs … and yes, rum.įrom the very beginning, though, it’s not as if other forms of spirits have been prohibited from appearing in classic tiki drinks. This is no coincidence-the very idea of “tiki” as we think of it today is perhaps better defined as Polynesian Pop, and the ethos of Polynesian Pop was a romanticized version of the supposed adventure and “danger” inherent in the South Seas, combined with the tropical, rum-based drinks of the Caribbean. Thank goodness.If you were asking a cocktail fan to define what makes for a “tiki drink,” then rum would surely be one of the first words mentioned. “You don't want to assume the Old Fashioned is his and the shaken cocktail is hers, which it often isn't.”Ĭocktail culture evolves, and classic whiskey drinks like the Old Fashioned don't exude exclusionary male-ness the way they used to. “We get a lot more women ordering traditional Old Fashioneds, and so I definitely see a lot more diversity,” says Annie Beebe-Tron, bar manager at the Ladies’ Room in Chicago. But seeing the Old Fashioned as just a traditionally men's drink is a stiff way to look at it. He made his Old Fashioned the traditional way, at his home bar late at night, then did the Dirty Dancing lift with a love interest-a devastating combo.Īnd perhaps that’s why men, especially younger men, have always flocked to the cocktail: It’s alcoholic comfort food that never lost its cool. ![]() Ryan Gosling’s character in Crazy, Stupid, Love fit that bill, too, with a 21st-Century twist. He embodied the classic aura of Old Fashioned drinkers: stylish, successful, male. Don Draper, ‘60s era marketing bad guy with killer style and ruthless charm, sipped Old Fashioneds made with rye, club soda, and cherry (we’ll allow it). There are two cultural touchpoints that show where we stand with Old Fashioneds these days. Fortunately, with few ingredients, it's also an easy cocktail to master. The sweetness makes it smoother than a lot of other whiskey-based drinks, though it remains a strong-jawed, spirit-forward option. Our guess is human beings will be drinking Old Fashioneds until end times, because the damned drink will never not be cool.Īll of which is to say, the Old Fashioned is a cocktail that's been around for a while, and for good reason. Since those sepia-toned days, the Old Fashioned has enjoyed illustrious comebacks as new generations of boozers have fallen for its simple charm. Yes, even the old-timers of the 1880s considered it to be an old-school drink. And 80 years later, the name “Old Fashioned” started getting tossed around in bars to describe said cocktail recipe. It was that particular (and rather unremarkable) recipe that appeared alongside the first-ever printed use of the word “cocktail” way back in 1806. This humble concoction of four ingredients-whiskey, sugar, bitters, and water-is quite literally the cocktail that started it all. You cannot get more classic than a classic Old Fashioned. ![]()
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