If you climb the cocktail family tree, you’ll eventually reach the granddaddy of them all, the Old Fashioned. As its name implies, the Old Fashioned is not new on the scene. It has been around since the earliest days of cocktail culture: the first documented definition of a “cocktail” was essentially an Old Fashioned recipe! Over 200 years later, the Old Fashioned mocktail recipe has arrived in response to sober drinking trends. Read through to learn how you an make this alcohol free cocktail.
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Who invented the Old Fashioned cocktail?
In an 1806 issue of The Balance and Columbian Repository, the paper’s editor defined a cocktail as a potent concoction of spirits, bitters, water, and sugar. A simple Old Fashioned cocktail recipe is very similar, composed of a bracing mixture of bourbon or rye whiskey, angostura bitters, water, and a sugar cube or simple syrup.
As is the case with nearly all of the cocktails we’ve researched, the Old Fashioned does not have a clear-cut origin story. What it does have is a community that claims and champions it with such vigor, they deserve some degree of ownership, whether legitimate or honorary. Louisville, Kentucky maintains that the Old Fashioned cocktail was created at The Pendennis Club in honor of Colonel James E. Pepper, a prominent bourbon distiller and club patron. The Old Fashioned is now the official cocktail of Louisville and the liquid hero of a two-week-long celebration of all things bourbon, aptly named the “Old Fashioned Fortnight.”
How to make a nonalcoholic Old Fashioned
Today new variations of classic cocktails are driving a lot of interest, with perhaps the most buzz surrounding low and no alcohol versions. This Old Fashioned mocktail recipe captures the character of bourbon – without the spirits! – by using alcohol-free bourbon or barley tea (or create a custom flavor by combining the two). We love how the nonalcoholic spirits trend is spurring innovation in classic cocktails and elevating the mocktail to artisan status. Bring on the maraschino cherries, this Old Fashioned mocktail may become your new favorite drink!
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Old Fashioned Mocktail
Ingredients
- 1 sugar cube
- 1 orange slice
- 2 dashes Angostura bitters
- Ice
- 2 ounces non-alcoholic bourbon or barley tea (see recipe, below)
- 1 maraschino cherry, for garnish
Instructions
- Place the sugar cube in the bottom of a glass.
- Add the orange slice and bitters.
- Muddle then fill the glass with ice.
- Add the tea. Stir to help the sugar dissolve.
- Garnish with the cherry then enjoy.
Yield
1 serving
Barley Tea
Ingredients
- 4 cups water, cold or room-temperature is fine
- 1 barley tea bag
Instructions
- Pour the water into a pitcher.
- Add the tea bag.
- Refrigerate for 2 hours then discard the tea bag.
Yield
4 cups
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