Happy Father’s Day and National Bourbon Week!

katierosell13
Jun 13, 2024
2 min read

Father’s Day quickly approaches! To mix it up a bit, we decided to celebrate all you fathers by discussing our favorite cocktails: for Katie, the Old Fashioned, and for Bart, the Manhattan. To our surprise, we then discovered that this week has been declared National Bourbon Week! It was meant to be.

Part of our sommelier exam included a service exam, where we had to serve a Master Somm at a restaurant table, opening and serving sparkling wine, giving food pairing recommendations, answering customer questions, etc. For this, we also had to know an extensive list of cocktails and their ingredients by heart to answer questions about those as well. So cocktails are definitely part of a sommelier’s training! We figure we should keep our skills sharp.

So let’s start with the Old Fashioned.

They say this cocktail started out back in the 1700s when it was called a Whiskey Cocktail, and a few dashes of bitters were added to whiskey. This was adapted over time into many variations of the Whiskey Cocktail, so people had to start asking for the “old fashioned” whiskey cocktail to get the original version. And here we are.

This cocktail is typically made with bourbon, but you should choose whichever whiskey you like best. Bart likes to use rye whiskey when he makes his. Bart also likes smoking the glass to give his Old Fashioned a smoky flavor. You can play with the recipe yourself to see what you like best, but the classic recipe is as follows:

2 ounces bourbon

3 dashes Angostura bitters

1 teaspoon sugar + 1 teaspoon water (or substitute with simple syrup)

Garnish with an orange twist

If you’d like to see how Bart makes his, check out our video on our Facebook or Instagram! If you’re out and about in Wichita and want to get one, we certainly haven’t tried nearly all there are to get, but Katie’s favorites thus far are at First Mile in Bradley Fair and Good Company in Delano. SO good.

Let’s move on to the Manhattan.