What's new with the Old Fashioned?

The makers of Chivas Regal, one of the world’s best-loved Scotch whiskies, were in Bangkok last week reminiscing about New York in the 1910s over a hearty all-American feast and, of course, whisky cocktails.

The party at the JW Marriot’s Manhattan Bar, “Chivas New York Modern Legends”, resurrected the glitzy nostalgia of the Big Apple while it was still ripening. It was 1909 when Chivas Regal rolled into town, so the dishes last week had a nostalgic flavour – clam chowder, cured salmon and Angus beefsteak. 

Each was paired with a whisky cocktail. The three mentioned met up in turn with a Legend on the Rocks (Chivas Regal 25 Year Old and fresh peach), the fizzy Jazz Up Chivas (with Perrier) and an Old Fashioned – one of the oldest cocktails and one that’s proved to be timeless. 

The brothers Chivas established the business in 1801 along with the French firm Pernod Ricard, distillers of Scotch whisky and premium gin. Home sod is the Strathisla Distillery at Moray in Speyside, Scotland, founded in 1786 and said to be the country’s oldest operating highland distillery. 

In the 1850s affluent customers wanted a smoother whisky and the Chivas brothers responded with their first blended Scotch whisky, Royal Glen Dee, followed the next decade by a second, Royal Strathythan.

It wasn’t until the 1900s that the outside world got its first taste, when Chivas exported its most aged, blended Scotch, Chivas Regal 25 Year Old, to the US, which was hungry (and thirsty) for luxury goods amid a booming economy. Chivas Regal’s success continued even during the Prohibition of the 1920s, when the sale and production of alcoholic beverages was banned, by creating various cocktails – including the Old Fashioned. 

About a century before Prohibition, a cocktail had been defined as “potent concoction of spirits, bitters, water and sugar” and was, surprisingly, a morning drink to perk you up. When the US government banned booze, cocktails enjoyed a revival as speakeasy bars blended in fresh juices to mask the alcohol and, not incidentally, make drinking seem more acceptable to ladies. 

The arrival of “luxury” spirits and whiskies from Europe, Chivas Regal included, let the Americans make whoopee with a laundry list of cocktail creations. 

Judging from its ingredients, the Old Fashioned is pretty old-fashioned. Originally it was a mix of sugar, Angostura bitters, whisky and a dash of club soda. It was easy to make: roughly crush a sugar cube or use half a teaspoon of loose sugar and toss with bitters into a tumbler. No fancy tools necessary, just a teaspoon, chopstick, lipstick case or even a stiletto heel. 

Just to make sure the glass didn’t get smashed before you did, someone came up with the tumbler with a thick base. 

A tiny splash of club soda is added to help dissolve the sugar and then you top up with lots of whisky and ice. These days the customary garnish is a slightly burnt shard of orange peel, a cherry or a pineapple slice. 

What makes this cocktail so “manly” and classy at the same time is the potency of the whisky and the way is goes wonderfully well with the faint sweetness and the tart, herbaceous aftertaste of the bitters. 

The Old Fashioned is also one of the few cocktails where your choice of whisky really matters. You can make it more “feminine” with sweeter and smoother spirits, like brandy or Bourbon or rye whiskey, or dress it in a big man’s suit with the more potent Scotch whiskies or even rum.