Best Wisconsin Old Fashioned - history & recipe

Anders, can you make your go-to bloody mary for badgers tailgate? Fellow from Wi-scon-sin

You just got a like. On Wisconsin

My goodness. I spent my honeymoon moving to Milwaukee from Ohio. Korbel and I became fast friends in the land of cheese. My favorite was a Brandy Manhattan. "Brandy and sweet.". You never hear that anywhere else. I'm a confirmed Beefeater Martini man now. In Wisconsin, that's called a "see-through.". Great video!

Great work, sir!

In Wisconsin we make the Old Fashioned waaay different from anyone else, but here in Wisconsin we still call an Old Fashioned. What???

I too am from Wisconsin. This is the best video that I’ve watched on how to make the drink we all love so much. Excellent job!

Thank you for this recipe. I was just up in Door county and had a couple of these. Now I have the recipe! 🎉

I was introduced to the Wisconsin old fashioned while visiting a friend in Appleton. It was a brandy old fashioned with table sugar muddled with orange and the maraschino cherry and no wash, and I loved it! I'm a brandy fan always, so it hit the spot for me. If I were making it at home, I'd still do the table sugar and no wash, but I might opt for a better cherry. Loved the supper club thing!

Like a handy with the finest wax dipped Cheddar cheese ?

In the 70s, I was a bartender in some really nice restaurants in Lincoln Nebraska. We made OF very similar to your way. Except we used whiskey and a cane sugar cube instead of simple syrup. We muddled the orange, cherry, sugar and bitters (Angostura of course - 2 shakes), added the ice and whiskey. Topped with a small splash of seltzer and a lemon twist. Garnished with the orange and cherry like you did. One of my favorite drinks to this day!! Thanks for this video!

Chop sticks work good for stirring too

A HH Holmes Old Fashioned.

I've tried this drink in many countries in many bars but the best by a mile is Belfast Northern Ireland, it's a different drink altogether there and its made the exact same way as it was in the late 19th century, its a very popular drink in Belfast.

Love the concept, but I’m starting to catch a theme on this channel - too much Angostura bitters! All my cocktails taste only of Angostura now. Sorry, too much. Might have to defect to the Educated Barfly!

Having been introduced to a regular old fashioned first, I can not drink these. I ordered an old fashioned at a mid-tier bar, and this is what I got. It was not what I was expecting, and made for a bad first impression of the cocktail. It tastes like when I lose my cocktail at home, and find it after the rock has melted.

Very helpful video, thank you. I have been personally refused by a bar staff to make the Wisconsin Old Fashioned because they thought it ruined the drink. Next time I will send them this link.

Love this clip! Not only because I'm a Wisconsinite who loves a whiskey old fashioned sour with cherries, but for the message too. Like what you like and let others like what they like. Life's too short to judge people for not drinking something the "correct" way. What's the point in that? Thanks, Anders!

I use asbach brandy, copper and kings cherries, no simple syrup and sprite. Everything else is the same

Any time I order a n Old Fashioned and get a Wisconsin Old Fashioned, I am so disappointed.

I'm from KY. My bourbon Old Fashioned game is pretty strong, if I do say so myself. 😅
I did a travel nursing contract in the Northwoods of Wisconsin in 2021/2022. While I was there, I fell in love with the Wisconsin Old Fashioned. Our favorite hangout was Beachcomber Lounge in Rhinelander, WI. The people there were great... just a lot of fun, and the bartenders, Tom and Deb, were just the best! I tried several different variations on the Old Fashioned there...sweet, sour, press, garnished with cherries, mushrooms, etc. I'll just say.... they were ALL good in their own ways. We loved going there and being accepted as "out-of-towners-but-for-an-extended-period-of-time." 😂
I loved this video! Thank you!!!

I’m from Green Bay, and anywhere i go, people turn their noses up when I tell them about a Wisconsin Old Fashioned, and the possible variations. It’s fine, I’m not one to convince people about what they’re missing. They’ll go all their lives without such delight and that’s unfortunate for them. We can cherish things on our own.

I thought every year was a good year for drinking in Wisconsin

I had to come here because I left WI for FL after college and every bartender looks at me like I’m insane when I ask for a brandy old fashioned. Thanks for this!

Inspired me to attempt my first Old Fashioned ever - making and drinking one. Delicious! Have loved all your videos - there's something mesmerizing about them (the history lesson, how beautiful they are filmed and edited, the music) Keep up the great work you two! I'll keep watching!

IMO- the best in Wisconsin is at the Ishnala supper club, lake Delton area on the Wisconsin river...

Surprisingly good. Made one exactly as prescribed and it was a surprisingly complex and satisfying cocktail

4 dashes of bitters and you’re worried about the orange peel making it bitter?

You lost me with the soda water. I always have an Old Fashion neat. And never with crushed fruit. Oh, and with Makers Mark.

In my visits to WI I’ve had a WI old fashioned made of Southern Comfort.

Wait, we can ask for pickled brussles sprouts?

I found your channel recently and as an 18 yr old bartender from Up North 20 years ago. I can still make these in my sleep! 100's of them served while waiting for the fish fry!

My man great vid!!

It's a fun recipe. I love to coke it. The bitters oddly carry the drink

I enjoy your content, but I am going to ask you for 1 more button. Also, do you have Rich Evans' address?

What better way to start your weekend than by having one of these on Friday night with your dinner? This is one of my most favorite drinks...just like he made it, the Wisconsin way. Only I add a couple more cherries for fun! 🍒

I want to give you an elitist thumbs up for this. I went to school In Milwaukee as an expatriate from Philadelphia and fell in love with this. It really is the tiki version of an old fashion and I don’t care what they say, I have introduced this to my friends in the northeast and they all love it, Viva Milwaukee!

As a Wisconsinite who loves old fashioneds but doesn't like brandy, thanks for spreading the word that this is a drink to be customized! Just because Grandpa liked his extremely sweet doesn't mean there isn't a version you'll like. Bourbon sour with olives is my cocktail of choice.

OK, so I made a Wisconsin Old Fashioned mocktail. I swear, I had no intention of making a mocktail version of your amazing recipe, but... I had some guests over who they knew were expressly coming over for "Cocktail Hour," and still 3 out of 7 of who showed up were (surprise to me) living sober for one reason or another. Hands up for them but... instant game plan change! My cocktail hour for guests turned into a half-mocktail hour. One of the drinks in my lineup was your recipe for the Wisconsin Old Fashioned Here's what I came up with on the spot, and then refined after the night was over and I was scratching my head, going, "Now what did I just serve up?"

OK, so... Same muddled cherry and orange at the bottom. Add in 2 barspoons of cherry liquid from the jar. Add in 1-2 barspoons of maple syrup, according to sweetness preference (I know, I know, but it's what I had and We needed an extra dimension after losing the brandy). Express a lemon peel over the muddled fruit and add in the peel. I happened to have some hibiscus tea just to add a sour/dried fruit dimension and actually add some liquid to this so-called drink, so I put in 1oz. It brought it in a little different direction but, you know, it wasn't a bad direction so we went with it. Add your ice, then top with lemon-lime sparkling water. You know what? Now it's tonight and I just wanted something refreshing and I made the mocktail version again! I'm sippin' it right now! I might try this with date syrup, or a mixture of honey and date syrups, in the future with sober guests when the Wisconsin Old Fashioned comes back on the menu. Yum.

Gotta use a sugar cube with a splash of your soda while muddling the fruit! much better than simple syrup in my opinion

Can I use Demerara syrup instead of simple with the same effects?

I made one last night and quite annoyed I wasted good booze on this. The drink is nice IF you don't add soda water to it. And the idea of adding something like 7up to it makes me horrified. The only reason I can see to add sofa water is if you have bad spirits so this helps in that regard otherwise you're making something good, bad. Anyway, remove the soda water and it's a nice version of an old fashioned in my view.

Just made my first Wisconsin old fashioned - it aint gonna be the last 👍

Oh man, born and bred wisconsinite and ive been making these since i was like 10 at family get togethers. Usually by the time a few rounds of cards were done, i was the only one able to make drinks. Had my first old fashioned at 14, been drinking them ever since. Brandy sweet with pickled mushrooms. Olives in a pinch.

I grew up and still live in Texas, but my in-laws are from Wisconsin. The WI Old Fashioned really is a fascinating cocktail because it is so customizable. Whenever I visit my wife's family in Wisconsin, I am just amazed by how this cocktail is pretty much everyone's drink of choice there, but everyone also makes their's slightly differently. And I have grown to love it was well. I don't drink one every day after dinner like my father-in-law, but every now and then I just crave one. I prefer mine with whiskey and squirt (sour) and I like to garnish mine with a salty garnish - olives if that is all I have, but pickled brussel sprouts are actually really good. Thanks for making this one!

Pickled brussels are amazing in general and in this drink

I went to Marquette and fell in love with these. I moved back to the northeast and have introduced these to my friends. All it took was one for them to fall in love.

You had a little fun with your girlfriend before you recorded huh😆