This is the first ever guest post here at Whiskygrotto.com. Sarah wrote me a while ago and asked if she could contribute with a guestpost. Of course! I said as long as it’s about Scotch Whisky or Whiskey. Here it is:
The history of this whiskey-based cocktail is so extensive that it traces back further than the martini itself. Dating back to the nineteenth century, the drink was originally called a “whiskey cocktail” until the martini and manhattan of the late 19th century forced purists to order an “old fashioned” whiskey cocktail, thereby securing the name for the centuries to come.
The first documented instance of the word cocktail as referencing the current “Old-Fashioned” dates to May, 13 1806 in which the Balance and Columbia Repository defined the drink as the concoction of whiskey, bitters, water, and sugar. When the martini and manhattan became revitalized during the 1970sand 80s, this previous whiskey cocktail developed a new taste, resulting in the old-fashioned as we know it to be today. The austerity which defined it before as holding simple rye with minuscule touches of water, bitters, and sugar was revolutionized to include an orange slice, maraschino cherry, and a diluting dose of soda water. The recent popularity the drink has had among trendy bars in New York stands as a testament to the whiskey cocktail’s staying power and ability to transcend through generations.
Most cocktail aficionados maintain that the old-fashioned is one of the original cocktails, in the true sense of the world. Most modern cocktails do not hold a candle to the drink that is the old-fashioned. While the drink remains popular in bars across the country, many newcomers who think they have a handle on what they consider to be a cocktail are still amazed at the “bitterness” which the drink gives off. However, there are still a few bars which allow the drink to return to its true roots (its integrity), by appealing to a very specific cocktail connoisseur. Many “purists” refuse the addition of soda water to an old-fashion and argue that this is not the proper way to make the drink.
The practice of adding fruit to the mixture likely began during the Prohibition in an effort to hide the bitter taste of the drink itself. However, there are many other theories to explain why the many fruits are now added to the drink, including replacing the fruit with bitters in areas where only citrus fruit grow (Florida and California). Within the whiskey world, true purists will resort back to the original inception of the drinking, letting go of the “new” practice of fruit and soda water, instead opting for the bitters, water, and sugar in the way their ancestors drank it.
This post was contributed by Sarah Russel, who writes about the top rated colleges. She welcomes your feedback at SarahRussel1234 at gmail.com
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I am glad to report that The Macallan has taken a step into the future of communication with their latest scotch whisky tasting. One of my favorite idea and design blogs – The NotCot reports on The Macallan’s latest whisky tasting and how they used Twitter to get the mouth water pouring.
It’s a great Idea even though I do think it’s a little bit early as the number of whisky fans on Twitter is probably limited. From a PR perspective though it’s great – look at me, I just had to write about it.
Head over to the NotCot site and read more.
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Last month we ran a competition on Whiskygrotto.com. The purpose was to increase the commenting on the posts. Traffic on Whiskygrotto.com is quite high, but it’s a quite traffic. So, a bottle of Auchentoshan, sponsored by the same awaited the top commentator and community poster.
The winner was Matt Henry from Arizona, USA under the nickname orangedogofglory. And in thought since Matt showed some passion Whisky I’d make a short interview with him. Here it goes:
Self portrait by the winner himself
1. Name & location
Matt Henry, Arizona, USA.
2. Why did you get into liking whisky?
My interest in whisky actually began with dumb luck. The long and short
of it boils down to, oddly enough, my winning a bottle of Johnnie Walker
Black. I made a bet with a friend of mine over March Madness brackets. My
bracket vastly outperformed his (of course), so he bought me a bottle.
3. Do you remember your first taste?
I remember the taste – not so much the original flavors. Although that
being said I do have some of that original bottle left, so I could revisit
it. I remember my impression being one of surprise, and my first thought
was “this is the next step after rum.” And that is meant with no slight to
rum – it just seemed to me that whisky was the progression in proper fit for
my palate.
4. What’s your top 3 list of whiskies?
My top three whiskies, by distillery, would be Balvenie, Laphroaig, and
Highland Park. Although Talisker would be a very close fourth. For
specific bottles, I would probably have to differentiate between regularly
available and affordable bottles, and rare and expensive bottles. [click to continue…]
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On september 28th Ardbeg are about to release a new bottling called Ardbeg Blasda.
Ardbeg will launch a digital drive some time the coming weeks to promote the new expression. The campaign, created by Story, will target Ardbeg customers to create a buzz around the new drink, Blasda, which is means ‘sweet and delicious’, in Gaelic and is produced on the untamed spirit of Islay.
The drive will unveil how Ardbeg produces its whisky and customers will be sent an email, where they can click through to a Blasda microsite to ‘dig a bit deeper’ about the brand. They will also be encouraged to play a game of ‘tipple toppling’ and shop online for the sweet light expression of Ardbeg.
After some search I found the game hidden on Ardbeg.com. Go ahead and play a preview!
Ardbeg themselves describes the new Blasda as follows:
When it comes to peat, you might say we are outstanding in this field, so we undertook an experiment: to tame our usual mighty peating level all the way down to just 8ppm in the bottle.
The mind bog-gling result is Blasda, which in Gaelic means ‘sweet and delicious’. Of course Ardbeg’s fruity, floral flavours are never overwhelmed by the peat, but here they are unmasked and allowed to shine.
The remarkable discovery is that even with all that peat removed, Blasda is still perfectly balanced. Who on earth would have thought it?
The new bottling is scheduled for international release on the 28th of september. Already in the end of august, an unofficial launch tasting of Ardbeg Blasda was held at the Dr Jekylls Pub in Oslo, Norway. WhiskyViking’s corner got more info on that.
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Dear visitors. It gives me great pleasure to present the winner of the August Comment and Community Challenge 2008 – Orangedotofglory aka Matthew Henry.
Matthew wins the prize because of the way he’s actively has kept the community alive as well as posted relevant comments over the last month. It was not an easy decision as some of you has almost been contributing with as much content as Matthew.
I would like to thank Auchentoshan for providing the prize and hope to come back with a new competition soon. Until then I hope the comments and posts in the community doesn’t dissapear. It’s you visitors who make the Whiskygrotto.com come alive.
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