Title: The Old-Fashioned: The Story of the World’s First Classic Cocktail

Author: Robert Simonson

Publisher: Ten Speed Press 2014

Genre: Nonfiction

Pages: 176

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

No single cocktail is as iconic, as beloved, or as discussed and fought-over as the Old-Fashioned. Its formula is simple: just whiskey, bitters, sugar, and ice. But how you combine those ingredients—in what proportion, using which brands, and with what kind of garnish—is the subject of much impassioned debate.

The Old-Fashioned is the spirited, delightfully unexpected story of this renowned and essential drink: its birth as the ur-cocktail in the nineteenth century, darker days in the throes of Prohibition, re-ascension in the 1950s and 1960s (as portrayed and re-popularized by Don Draper on Mad Men), and renaissance as the star of the contemporary craft cocktail movement.

Random pick from the library shelves last week. I love a good Old Fashioned and I love history, so this book was perfect for a lovely afternoon of reading. I really enjoyed learning the history of the drink. The variations throughout history were fascinating. Loved this slim volume.

Next up on the TBR pile: