Pappy Van Winkle Cocktail?

[kaleokahu]

Saw grandbaby Van Winkle make this on "Mind of a Chef" this week. What's it called???

Half slice of orange, rhind on, in the glass
Muddle only the flesh of the fruit
Saturate a sugar cube in orange bitters on a paper towel
Muddle in the soaked cube
Fill glass with ice
Top up with 15-y.o. Bourbon, height to taste/budget/cirrhosis.

Mighty fine, but what's it called?

Aloha,
Kaleo

[rcb4d]

Finally got around to trying this last night, as follows:

full round of orange, no rind
1 demerara cube
3 dashes each, Angostura and Angostura Orange
<muddle>
2 oz OWA 107
2 big rocks
<stir>

As predicted, it's sweet not cloying. It went down very easy. I'm going to try The Big Crunch's suggestion of using rye tonight. I think that will cut through some of the sweetness.

[The Big Crunch]

It's a muddled Old Fashioned. Seems like a waste of Pappy though. As folks have mentioned, good booze makes good cocktails, but at a certain price point, returns do begin to diminish. Around here, where Pappy goes on sale for around $300 a bottle, I'd say the point of diminishing returns is thoroughly blown out of the water.

Also, while any bourbon is certainly acceptable, the notion of using a wheated bourbon in a cocktail calling for a sugar cube (or the approximate .25 oz. of simple syrup) seems poorly conceived. Why not go for a drier, rye-heavy bourbon to contrast with the sugar? Or, just go with rye.

[rcb4d]

Of course, if there's one person who can afford to waste Pappy on Muddled Old Fashioneds, it's Julian. Guess he has a sweet tooth, with his orange juice, sugar cube, and wheater bourbon.

[JMF]

Muddled Old Fashioned in the style that first became popular circa 1910-1920

[kaleokahu]

Hi, JMF:

OK, send me to 1910 in the Wayback Machine! Seriously, 90% of my batterie, my solid-top, most knives are from this period. It figures I'd love this cocktail.

Aloha,
Kaleo

[The Big Crunch]

Is that really when the muddling of the fruit started? Wondrich speculates it was a prohibition trend, which would put it solidly in the '20s.

[kaleokahu]

Hi, BC:

My knowledge of the history of cocktails is pitiful, so I'll defer to you.

I re-watched this episode after linking in with the recipe shown on the PBS website, and how Julian VanW made the drink is different. Julian used only orange bitters in 1 cube, whereas the published recipe uses 2 cubes, 1 each soaked in orange and Angostura.

I've already fiddled with it a bit, and I like a little Trader Joe's orange-essence soda put in the mix. Still futzing with the ratios.

Aloha,
Kaleo

[TraderJoe]

What's it called? Freakin good! ;)

[rcb4d]

I'm waiting for someone to call it a martini, then justify their substitution of every key ingredient.

[rcb4d]

His take on an Old Fashioned. Here's the recipe:

http://www.pbs.org/food/recipes/julia...