The Old Fashioned, perhaps the most quintessentially perfect cocktail, is a classic that one must master in the bartending biz. While the OG OF often remains loyal to four ingredients – whiskey, sugar, bitters, and water/ice – this perennial favorite has evolved over the last 100-plus years to include sundry flourishes. Enter stage left the mixologists of Vance’s Bakery Bar.
On the heels of Negroni Week, the staff at Vance’s decided to host Old Fashioned Week, which ends Oct. 16, spotlighting the potent pre-Prohibition potation but in a more flirty way. This week, they will feature six “off book” iterations using their vast collection of bitters and imaginative flavored syrups and garnishes.
Vance’s Bakery Bar is already a strong player in the Old Fashioned cocktail game with its signature OF (a “decadent and nutty twist on the classic”). But this week’s features flex a little adulteration, a little blasphemy and a whole lot of deliciousness. Music to my ears.
Case in point, Alexander’s Courviorsier-based French Noir. The rich, mature cognac provides this version with more complexity than a traditional Old Fashioned. Its silky and sumptuous mouthfeel is luxurious. And the house-made black pistachio bitters and black pepper-clove syrup? A bonus for the palate.
Tylena’s Breakfast Old Fashioned resembles an orthodox OF with its bourbon base. But then she swirls in some post-Prohibition era by adding a Luxardo cherry and then elevates this cocktail to a new level with maple syrup and rhubarb bitters, both unexpected and welcomed. The fragrant oil from the seared orange zest lends a bright zing to a heavy spirit-forward drink. And of course that slow-melting, hefty cube is on point.
Then there’s Jerry’s Cherry Pie, a delightfully spicy amalgam of cherry-cinnamon infused rye, vanilla syrup, and cherry-saffron bitters. The proverbial cherry on top, however, is the house-made falernum. What’s falernum, you ask? I, too, wanted to know, but Jerry was quite tight-lipped with his secret. As far as I could discern, it was a ginger-almond-allspice-clove (maybe) syrup. Sleuthing aside, the Cherry Pie was a myriad of flavors, making this quite the sophisticated tipple.
Here is the Vance’s Bakery Bar lineup for Old Fashioned Week:
HARVEST butter-washed Elijah Craig Small Batch Bourbon | chamomile | house-made seasonal bitters | orange peel | smoked cinnamon
CHERRY PIE cherry + cinnamon infused Beau Jack Rye | house-made Falernum | vanilla | cherry-saffron bitters
BREAKFAST Elijah Craig Small Batch Bourbon | maple syrup | rhubarb bitters | orange peel | Luxardo cherry
HIGHLAND Famous Grouse | Giffard Banane du Bresil | house-made lemon + ginger bitters | lemon peel
NUEVO LEON Cazadores Blanco | Monte Alban Mezcal | Amaro Nonino | orange bitters
FRENCH NOIR Courvoirsier | pistachio demerara syrup | house-made clove bitters
An overproofed spirit with a touch of sugar + bitters + water to quell that spirit’s temper. That’s an iconic Old Fashioned. But the staff at Vance’s has never settled for basic. Refusing to be stifled by austerity, they’ve created liquid masterpieces and signed them with panache. You’ll taste their love in every sip.
Ann Beth Strelec is known around town as the Naked Epicurean, sampling the finest cocktails known to Augustans. Find out about adult beverages at The Augusta Press on the first and third Friday or on Instagram @NakedEpicurean
