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Greetings, Wonketeers! I’m Hooper, your bartender. Spring is slowly coming to Ohio, which makes me think of fruit-forward classics. I found a recipe for a Blackberry Old Fashioned, and I thought I knew what I was getting into. I’ve cranked out dozens of Old Fashioneds in my time behind the pine. Then I realized that we were making a Wisconsin Old Fashioned … and Wisconsinites do things different. Let’s check out a Midwest classic with a nice berry twist.
Here’s the recipe:
2 oz Korbel brandy
1 oz blackberry syrup
½ orange slice
3 blackberries
2-3 shakes Angostura bitters
1 oz lime seltzer or lemon-lime soda
In a double old fashioned glass, add syrup, berries, orange slice, and bitters. Muddle the berries until completely broken down. Strain the cocktail into a second glass. Add ice, soda, and brandy. Garnish with a blackberry and orange slice.
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
6 oz blackberries
Place blackberries, sugar, and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 25 minutes. Strain the syrup into a bottle, breaking up the berries with the back of a spoon until the solids in the strainer look dry.
I know how to make a great Old Fashioned. I thought that the point of an Old Fashioned was to emphasize a quality bourbon — a little simple syrup, a little bitters, the salt and pepper on a good steak. When I was given the original recipe for this drink on Pinterest, I immediately shook my head and set about “improving” it.
I hadn’t realized that this was a Wisconsin Old Fashioned. Wisconsin has its own cocktail culture that dates back to the turn of the century. Those traditions seem a bit stodgy and antique viewed through a modern mixology lens, but it is a uniquely American cocktail culture that deserves attention. I have a habit of focusing on strong, pungent flavors in my drinks. Most of my peers are in the same boat. We love Fernet Branca, green Chartreuse, and obscure, funky amaros. But there’s something to be said for a mild, drinkable cocktail that uses a little fruit and brandy to make a nice after-dinner drink.
A big part of what makes this drink work is the choice of brandy over bourbon for the base spirit. Wisconsin is obsessed with brandy. Wisconsin consumes half of all the cases of Korbel brandy produced in an entire year. I’ve seen competing historical arguments for why this is so, but I believe it boils down to tradition. Korbel became associated with quality brandy generations ago, and Wisconsin cocktail culture is very set in its ways. Brandy is extremely versatile; it picks up and carries flavors in a way that more assertive liquors refuse to do. The blackberry flavors in this drink would be overwritten by a spicy, potent rye whiskey (my usual base for an Old Fashioned).
When summer rolls around, I plan on exploring some of the ice cream cocktails of Wisconsin. There was a brief period when gourmet burger restaurants featured boozy milkshakes on their menus; I suspect their roots lay up here in Midwestern dairy states. Until then, enjoy this very nice, approachable sipper.
Let’s talk ingredients:
Korbel brandy: Korbel is far and away the traditional brandy for a Wisconsin cocktail. It’s inexpensive, and honestly not all that great. Brandy tends to be a “you get what you pay for” sort of affair, and I’d rather use Hennessey or Merkow in my drinks. But the syrup and fruit manage to overcome the flaws of the spirit in this drink, and the end result is quite good. Use your favorite brandy if you have one, but if not, start with the Korbel.
Blackberry syrup: Your favorite berry transformed into a syrup will work just fine here. A strawberry Old Fashioned would be an utter delight. The core recipe for the blackberry syrup works well for any berry or fruit. The brandy and other ingredients support just about any flavor choices you make. The fruit syrup also makes for a great NA cocktail — combine syrup, soda water, and a squeeze of fresh lime juice in a glass, stir, and enjoy.
Orange slice: Make sure that you muddle the fruit itself, and not the bitter pith, when you’re assembling this cocktail.
Blackberries: We want as much blackberry flavor in this drink as possible, so combining fresh berries and syrup makes sense.
Angostura bitters: Something spicy and bitter is needed to ground an otherwise very jam-like cocktail. Angostura does the trick.
Lime seltzer: Sprite would work here. So would Squirt. But I hate the idea of adding even more sugar to this drink, especially corn syrup. A basic lime-flavored seltzer with natural lime flavor is cheap and easy to work with.
Technique: The challenge here is to make a tasty cocktail that doesn’t have a ton of blackberry seeds floating in it. I’m recommending you muddle the syrup, fruit, and bitters in one glass, then strain the fruit syrup/slurry into another glass entirely. The object is to make sure there are no bits of fruit pulp in the final cocktail. Slap a Hawthorne strainer onto your mixing glass to take care of that job; otherwise, use a small, fine kitchen strainer.
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