Right, so the title of this post is just a pun (I didn't say it was a clever one). It references a cocktail appropriately named, "Old fashioned".
My qualms are not with this cocktail but rather, with the re-interpretation of this cocktail.
I've been interested in cocktails for a number of years now and the first thing I do when I visit a new bar or restaurant, is flip through the cocktail menu. What I find there is sometimes Amazing, but usually a collection of classic cocktails, seeming like an afterthought. Rarely am I, pleasantly surprised.
The most egregious flaw I've seen and it pops up once in a while. Is the addition of soda/seltzer water to an Old fashioned.
The more you get into the world of cocktails, the more you realize that a lot of it is just modifications of an existing recipe, so called riffs. The question is, when is it a riff and when does speciation occur?
To most of the cocktail world, two things happen when you create a riff. Attribution to the bartender or institution who initially created it and keeping your modifications in the spirit of the original.
There is a whole family of drinks called Fizzes, that included carbonated water in their ingredients and the old fashioned is not one of it's members.
For any art form to evolve and I do mean art form, you need to provide space for exploration. But this exploration isn't done in a vacuum.
So, by all means, tinker away. Add citrus juice, liqueurs, different bitters and yes, even soda water. But don't call it, old fashioned.
