My Southern Godmother’s Old Fashioned Recipe

Even if you’re not a regular bourbon drinker, Betty’s recipe is mighty tasty.
Photo via bulleit.com

It’s not a raspberry martini or a red-current champagne spritzer—and it certainly isn’t pink wine—but it’s red in color and, as far as we’re concerned, that makes an Old Fashioned the perfect Valentine’s Day cocktail. The recipe belongs to Betty Brown, and as she states, it is “best consumed by a roaring fire—no gas logs allowed.” Here’s how to make it:

First, fill an old-fashioned glass half full with ice.

Add:

• 1 jigger Kentucky bourbon (Betty uses Bulleit bourbon, but feel free to work with your personal favorite.)
• splash of Angostura Orange Bitters
• juice of one small orange wedge; add wedge to glass
• one all-natural maraschino cherry and a little of the syrup (avoid cherries with red dye or preservatives; Betty recommends Silver Palate All Natural Cherries)
• splash of natural ginger ale (Betty’s favorite: Fever-Tree Premium Ginger Ale)

Stir gently.

Enjoy.

Thanks for sharing, Betty!

The joy of bourbon drinking is not the pharmacological effect of the C2H5OH on the cortex but rather the instant of the whiskey being knocked back and the little explosion of Kentucky U.S.A. sunshine in the cavity of the nasopharynx and the hot bosky bite of Tennessee summertime—aesthetic considerations to which the effect of the alcohol is, if not dispensable, at least secondary.  
                                                                     —Walker Percy, “Bourbon, Neat”