The Classic Old Fashioned Recipe

My neighborhood is a funny mix of bars and restaurants. There are three main roads; Elm, Main St. and Commerce. If you were to walk down Elm at 2 in the afternoon on a Tuesday, you may think you are in a ghost town as tumbleweeds blow past your feet and a homeless man sits silently on a pillar staring at you as you walk by. While Main St. and Commerce are both filled with incredible restaurants, some of the best in DFW, poor little Elm street sits sad and abandoned. 

Sad and abandoned until around 9pm when everything changes, and all of the lights appear to suddenly crack on at exactly the same time. Metal heads form lines nightly, waiting patiently to see their favorite band play at Trees, bikers line their Harleys up outside of Anvil Pub and Reno's Chop Shop Saloon, and you can pick up a rock, throw it and hit about 48 tattoo parlors from any given spot. 

But then you'll find the shiny, brand spankin new places...

The new places like Off The Record that is a craft beer and cocktail bar that also sells classic vinyl records, or The Deep Ellum Candy Company, also known as Truth and Alibi, where you walk in to a room filled with candy, say a secret password, and a trap door opens revealing a dimly lit, ultra-swanky speakeasy!

And I love all of them equally, but this post is inspired by the last-mentioned bars. Both Off The Record and Truth and Alibi make a classic old fashioned, a drink I had no idea I was so in love with until I had my first one just a few months ago. But with price tags upward of $11 a drink, I wanted to give making them at home a shot instead.

The result? Two thumbs up! I think Chalupa Batman dug them as well. I will be making them again, and not just because I spent $24.99 on that bottle of bitters. Ok, that is why I'm making them again, but that is neither here nor there....

Have you ever had an old fashioned? What is your favorite hand crafted cocktail to order in a bar?