The Holiday Spirit: Paul Feig x The Rake Cocktail Column
Our resident mixologist embraces the season by making himself an Old Fashioned — the king of whisky-based cocktails — with an Irish twist.
Deck the halls with drams of whisky, fa la la la la... yeah, you know the rest. Now that the weather is turning cold (or, if you’re in the U.K., replace ‘is turning’ with ‘has turned’), we find our tongue’s booze-buds longing for amber waves of fermented grain. Or at least I do. As big a gin and martini lover as I am, it seems that when the temperature falls, my desire for more warming drinks tends to overtake my love of bright, clear, spirit-based cocktails. An elegant rocks glass with a small (or, depending on the day, not so small) pour of single malt in the bottom, lazily swirled and sipped next to a roaring fire (or clanking radiator if you’re in New York City) seems like the very definition of heaven.
In the mid 2000s, my friends Paul and Eric would take Tipsy and me to Skibo Castle, where we would enjoy long rambles over the frost-kissed grounds of this Inverness manor house. As we headed out, the butler, James, would hand us flasks filled with Glenmorangie to give us mid-hike fortitude on the cold moors, which always greatly improved our adventures. The breakfast room would also have a bottle of whisky next to the pot of porridge so you could add a wee dram to your oatmeal, thus diminishing its health properties but making it oh-so-much-more enjoyable than merely dumping some processed brown sugar on top of it.
Yes, brown spirits bring the warmth and oftentimes a trace of added sweetness to the proceedings, and so they make any rum, cognac, Armagnac or whisky the perfect drink for the chilly season. Any of these liquors in a snifter, straight up with no ice, is a delightful (and usually the best) way to experience them. But putting them into iced cocktails can still give you that same richness and warmth that is needed as the days grow shorter and the mercury plummets.
An elegant rocks glass with a single malt sipped next to a roaring fire seems like the very definition of heaven.
When it comes to the king of whisky-based cocktails, few hold more power and peril than an Old Fashioned.
I’d read in many places that the true test of a bartender is how they make their Old Fashioned. If you’ve been around at all, you know how easy it is to get an O.K.-to-terrible one. I’ll be the first to admit that, as an amateur mixologist, I’m most terrified of making an Old Fashioned. There are so many differing views and opinions on the best way to do it that it can leave you deciding to just pour a neat glass of scotch and call it a night. I vow on my laptop’s life that I will unearth the perfect Old Fashioned recipe for this column, but today is not that day.
However...
What I can do is bring you a much easier and, frankly, more crowd-pleasing recipe that can proudly include the words ‘old’ and ‘fashioned’ in its name, since it a) is whisky-based; b) has the sweetness and flavour of a traditional Old Fashioned; and c) is completely foolproof. Unless you’re a total fool. And thus, behold the Irish Old Fashioned. Its invention is credited to bartender Jack McGarry, but I have gone and added an extra element to it in the form of cherry bitters. One of my favourite Old Fashioneds I ever had was at a long-gone restaurant in Pasadena, California, where they added a cocktail cherry and a bit of cherry syrup. But I didn’t want to add any more sweetness, and so opted for the bitter pleasures of the Fee Brothers. Behold the simplicity:
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Irish Old Fashioned • 2 oz. Irish whiskey (preferably Jameson’s Black Barrel) |
Add all the ingredients except the orange twist into an ice- filled mixing glass and stir until combined. Strain into a rocks glass with fresh ice, add the orange twist if using, and enjoy the sweet warmth of a cold winter day in Erin!
Since it is the season of giving, why not give some of your holiday bonus to those less fortunate by donating to any of the myriad organisations helping the unhoused. I personally recommend the Homeless Youth Connection (hycaz.org), but feel free to go to Charity Navigator (charitynavigator.org) to find out which organisations are helping those in need in your area.
Sláinte!
