This is a great crowd-pleasing Thanksgiving cocktail. When you're making your cranberry relish, simply reserve some cranberry syrup for use later in cocktails. If you don't have cachaça (a Brazilian rum-like spirit made from sugar cane juice), you could substitute a light rum.

It's that time again - we now have 36 variations of the Old Fashioned, and I'm going to thin them out (by hiding them) based on how many people have the drink in their cocktail book - I feel it's better than either deleting them or merging them into this drink and making a note. Just as a heads up, I'm also going to do this to the Negroni and the Martini - any new variations of these three drinks will need to come from a great bar or be so compelling it deserves to be seen by everyone.  Thanks, Zachary

Made an altered version using 2 oz rye and a 1/2 oz of orange oleo saccharum and two dashes of Angostura. Made me think of the orange-forward on-tap Old Fashioned at the Union Kitchen (Copenhagen) I had a few years ago. Really nice and simple. 

Please consider adding the Wisconsin Old Fashioned. A brandy version with lots of bitters and cracked ice. Nice variation.

When making a Dry Martini with St. George Terroir Gin, I recommend adding a small amount, no more than a quarter ounce, of Clear Creek's Douglas Fir Eau de Vie. One of the Terroir's botanicals is Doug Fir, and the two spirits meld together beautifully with the vermouth to make something redolent of West Coast forests without being overwhelmingly pine-y (your tastes may vary). Grapefruit bitters are a good way to go in this Martini. If Douglas Fir can't be found, the Terroir still makes an excellent, richly herbal Martini on its own.

The 3-1 ratio of gin to dry vermouth along with orange bitters and a lemon peel is the recipe I use. I've seen this particular variant called the "Nick and Nora". Moving on to "which gins" and "which vermouths" could fill pages.

I like this variant from David Wondrich's Imbibe, called Formula #1 (Turf Club). It's a lot sweeter, but I tend to like things on the sweet side.

1.5 oz Old Tom Gin

1.5 oz Italian Vermouth

2-3 dash bitters (I used angostura, but calls for Peruvian)

Gin and Sweet Vermouth with a twist is occasionally known as a "Gin & It".  Not worth making a new recipe, but also delic.

Probably worth mentioning Audrey Sanders' Fitty Fitty Martini (equal parts London Dry and dry vermouth, orange bitters and lemon twist) and Eel Bar's Wet Martini (2:1:1 London Dry, blanc vermouth, and dry vermouth, orange bitters and an expressed orange peel). 

Refreshing and boozy. I lived in Brazil for 3yrs. Cut 1/2 - 1 lime into pieces & put 2 T sugar in a bottom of rocks glass, muddle, add ice & at least 3oz cachaca - cheap stuff ok. Enjoy! Never liked simple w/ this drink.

Gary Regan's Joy of Mixology book does a simpler, less lemon, more cherry, no violette, version: 2oz gin, 1/2oz maraschino, 1/2 lemon. If I like Regan's version, I'll get Creme de Violette later.

I suspect that Gary, like Ted Haigh, omits the Violette or Yvette because at the time of the writing, it wasn't available. I think it's pretty clear that the original had either Yvette or possibly Violette in order to give it the characteristic light blue color. Today, Cooper's Yvette isn't blue, so I think most people are using Violette. That said, the Violette is very strong, so I personally recommend starting with only 1/2 tsp and increasing if you like that perfume-like floral flavor. I do think that the cocktail is much more interesting with Violette. The funkiness of the Maraschino somehow offsets the yuckiness of grandma's Violette -- in a counter-intuitive sort of synergy. I hate to say it, but since Violette is artificially colored, you could add a drop of diluted blue food coloring to achieve the color if you don't have (or don't want) Violette.

I'm going to clean up this cocktail and its five variations tonight. If you think one of them is worth saving - other than the Aviation Cocktail #1, which I think we should rename Aviation (Jacques Straub), please let me know.

Thanks,

Zachary

I've tried to like this cocktail with similar proportions, but the lemon needs far more sweetener to make a comfortable balance on my tongue. I do find that the Creme de Violette does a wonderful job of toning down the harsher edge of the Maraschino and I really like the pairing in equal proportions. My current favorite proportions are 1.5 oz Gin, and .5 oz across the board for the Creme de Violette, Maraschino and Lemon Juice. The drink loses the famous sky-blue color, but still is quite a beauty with a cherry resting at the base.

I tried this cocktail last night for the first time using the proportions listed in the Haus Alpenz recipe which differs slightly from your recipe. Both, if I'm not mistaken, differ from Hugo Ensslin's recipe which I liked the best. I've started on a classic cocktail kick and didn't realize what I was missing.

Are you sure it's only 2 dashes of Violette? I used the Rothman and Winter CdV for this recipe and I tasted no creme de violette and it wasn't at all blue.

Jaba,

I'm sure it's 2 dashes. You could try setting a "part" at 3/4 oz (which will make a small drink), or increasing the Violette until you like it.

Thanks,

Zachary

I use 1/4 tsp per dash, so about 1/2 tsp for this, which I find gives a nice background floral aspect and a slight greyish color. There is always uncertainty in what a dash is, especially for an ingredient that doesn't come in a dasher bottle.

Some use up to a 1/2 oz of Violette. There's no reason you shouldn't adjust this to your taste. You may have to adjust the lemon too.

Liked:
2 oz gin
1 oz lemon
1/2 oz maraschino
1 tsp CdV

It's hard to measure dash of CdV and Maraschino liqueur. I prefer the 1/4 oz CdV, 1/3-1/2 oz Maraschino along w 1/2-3/4 oz lemon juice and 2 oz gin. 

Recipe says 1940s origin, but this cocktail appeared in a 1916 guide (Recipes for Mixed Drinks by Hugo R. Ensslin), according to classicmixology.com.

Thanks, I updated the origin reference and noted the original recipe, with sounds dreadful to me. 25% violette will be a mouth of grandma.

Incidentally, A Mouth of Grandma is my hardcore band's name.

This started out well-balanced but got quite absinthe-heavy as it went along. I suspect it's because it cooled down—it may stay balanced longer over ice.

I love mouthfuls of grandma! (not the band though, sorry)

Can someone post the non-modern version of this cocktail?  

This would be the original or close to it, I think. 

Curated this to conform to the VS&FC recipe. Updated creator and source information.

Good but I found it a bit tart, cut it back to heavy 1/2 oz and found it to be better balanced

Alternate Recipe via PUNCH:

1 1/2 ounces rum (preferably El Dorado 5 Year)

1/2 ounce falernum

1/4 ounce orange curacao (preferably Pierre Ferrand)

3/4 ounce lime juice