Old-Fashioned, a women's drink?

[sourcandy]

I was at a bar and craving whisky, so I got an Old-Fashioned cocktail. It's always seemed fairly manly to me. I always think of whisky drinks as being manly. As the bartender made it, a nice old lady at the bar said "It's funny to see a big guy like you order an Old Fashioned. When I was young, that was always thought of as being a girly drink."

I've never heard this before. Has anybody else?

[kchurchill5]

Also ex bartender and it was a mix between guys and girls for the drink. Lots of guys but alot would say forget the cherry. Maybe that is why they thought it was girlie, lol.

No idea. But a mix for me as a bartender, guys and girls. I still enjoy one. But bourbon or whiskey is my drink of choice.

[JohnE O]

I would have clocked her one and then asked who the "big man" was. But seriously, 2 ounces of bourbon in any drink would probably take it outside the realm of a 'girly'.

[Veggo]

American men who fought in WWII are entitled to drink old fashioned's to their heart's content. A young buck may have to defend his turf for the privilege.

[joypirate]

Rather randomly the entire city of Milwaukee worships the Old Fashioned, irrespective of gender. I haven't figured out why yet (moved here recently) but the bar around the corner from my office has $1.50 PBR tall boys and $1.50 brandy old fashioneds during happy hour. and no fish fry is a fish fry (something else that's ubiquitous in Milwaukee) without brandy old-fashioneds.

[jgg13]

I was just going to comment that I thought they used brandy in their old fashioneds but you mentioned it in your post. THere was an article about that in a recent imbibe issue (I think it was?)

[MC Slim JB]

As I've said here before, a real man drinks whatever the hell he wants, and doesn't give a damn about what the image-obsessed or the narrow-minded have to say about what he's drinking.

Try a Pink Lady sometime: that's a terrific drink. Who's afraid of salmonellosis? Or a Jack Rose: pink, but not for baby girls. And while I'm not really a big fan of vodka cocktails, a Cosmopolitan can be a fine drink if it's well made.

That said, I'm of the school that says "no muddled fruit" in my Old-Fashioneds. There's a very good take on the subject here: http://drinkboston.com/2006/12/13/an-old-fashioned-take-on-rye/

http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/

[yarm]

The muddled fruit makes it a smash. Although citrus rind can make it an amazing drink. Having muddled fake maraschino cherry bits clogging the straw is just wrong on many levels. Booze, sugar, bitters, and perhaps citrus rind (muddled or twisted over the top) is all an old fashioned requires. Anything else sends it off in a different direction and drink name.

[JMF]

Actually the muddled old fashioned with one slice orange and one cherry is a pretty old recipe in itself from 1910-1920, by then the term smash was going out of use; although the original old fashioned is 100 years older.

[Ali G]

Thanks for the link Slim. I happen to have rye and bourbon on hand, but no oranges. I was wondering how orange bitters would be in an old fashioned since I'm too lazy to go out and buy an orange. I just made my drink exactly as described and it came out great! I even flamed a lemon peel which I always took as a flashy bartender trick, but I can smell the aroma of the oils. Good stuff. I might have 2.

Oh, and we had maraschino cherries in the fridge, so I added one on top. I don't care if it looks girly.

[The Professor]

Wouldn't bother me in the least. I drinks what I likes and could care less about anyone else's perception.

[TroyTempest]

Well, I know this. When I was young, way before i was legal age, and we'd go out for a special dinner with my parents and grandparents (about twice a year) my Grandmother would order an OF. I always got her fruit, which packed a pretty good wallop.
She was the only one at the table that ordered one, and that was about the only time she ever drank, except maybe a glass of Cold Duck at Xmas.
I digress, but, I have to say I always thought of it as a woman's drink, probably because my Grandmother was the only person I ever saw order one.

I too think it is the fruit that helps perpetuate this stereotype, because it is a good drink for anyone, and of course potent to boot.

[roro1831]

My grandfather drank them all the time, as did my friends father, so I've never associated them with being a woman's drink. I guess that would come from the fact that it's sweet, and if made too sweet can disguise the taste of the bourbon. So does that make a Sazerac a woman's drink as well?

[sourcandy]

Couldn't say about the Sazerac. I've always thought of dry Manhattans as being a little butcher than the sweet.

Not that it matters. I'll still drink Old Fashioneds either way.

[yarm]

There's a good article in the current issue of Imbibe magazine about the Old Fashioned and how the brandy version caught on in Wisconsin and surrounds after Korbel had a major showing at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. It discussed how the drink could be made more or less for one gender than the other. It might seem strange about a brandy version but the Sazerac (an Old Fashioned with Peychaud's, Herbsaint/absinthe, and lemon oil) started as a Cognac cocktail until a philoxera epidemic made Cognac scarce.

[JMF]

I've never heard that anywhere in all my research on cocktails. I wonder if it was just a perception of hers, or some regional thing, or a finite time period. The Old Fashioned is just about the most classic cocktail there is, going back to way before prohibition, and in those times women did not go into bars, or drink cocktails. (Women basically started drinking cocktails during Prohibition.)

[yarm]

I've heard that about sours (although those made with sour mix and not so much about classically made sours with citrus and sugar), but not Old Fashioned cocktails. Perhaps if garnished with lots of fruit and containing lots of muddled fruit, but if the Old Fashioned is whiskey (or other spirit), sugar cube, bitters, and perhaps citrus oil, I wouldn't say so. It's pretty basic and no frills.

You should've asked her what men drank back then. Perhaps at the establishments where she went it was beer or straight spirits.

http://cocktailvirgin.blogspot.com/

[jgg13]

I always figured it was due to the excessive "garbage" that seems to adorn old fashioneds at a lot of places - which I find amusing considering the history of how the old fashioned came to be.

[sku]

It's a really old, outdated stereotype. Ignore it.