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28 Comments

  1. Ninety-Eight percent of all brandy old fashioneds made at a bar, supper club or at home in Wisconsin are a brandy old fashioned sweet with 7 Up. Cherry and orange as a garnish are traditional. I like to muddle in the same way and use Bittercup Orange Bitters, a blood orange along with a cognac or a nice brandy. Currently I am using Torres 10 from Spain in my brandy old fashioneds. I am certainly okay with V.O., Christian Brothers, Korbel that you get at a bar or supper club yet I enjoy my twist to Wisconsin in a glass. I just love a good brandy old fashioned, especially in the company of friends and family.

  2. May aunt born and raised in Oconto county made her brandy Old Fashioned with home made pickled green beans….the only way to fly!!

    1. Just had a traditional Wisconsin Old Fashion at Ishnalla Supper Club this week. I think the Angostura bitters is what gives it the Wisconsin vibes

  3. I am from Wisconsin and my family has made brandy old fashioned for years. Never heard of concerning myself with “Dairy” free brandy – being from the Dairy State. The pickled garnish options are good. However please proofread your site: this site might be a good “place” to search though it’s definitely not a “please to search”. And I always drink mine in a glass unless I use a plastic cup out at the cabin – aka – a shack – as they call them in Cheesehead territory.

    1. Agreed. The author seems much more concerned with being “politically correct” than actually correct. Maybe that flies in Bayview and The People’s Republic of Madistan, but it REEEEEEALLY grates on the rest of us in the State. 👎🏻

      1. I’m sorry, but “the author” is a person who was raised in Green Bay and still lives here. I think I am more than qualified to write about Wisconsin cocktails. There’s no need to be rude and mock the political correctness of my article. It’s intent was to teach people who don’t live in our state how to make this unique old fashioned cocktail. I’m sorry if it bothers you that we have a dairy allergy in our family, but you don’t have to be here.

      2. You know what grates on the actual rest of the state? Idiots like you who are such a special snowflake that you get offended that someone has a dairy allergy.

    2. Sorry, but I was actually raised in Green Bay and still live here. I’m not sure why it bothers you that I wrote this article for people who don’t live in Wisconsin, but I’m curious as to why you are looking up a recipe if you are such an expert.

      As for the dairy free alcohol, this website is a dairy free site, and my husband is allergic to dairy so we have to go out of our way to find safe liquor since allergens aren’t required to be labeled in alcohol.

      Either way, I hope you enjoy your old fashioned no matter how you make them, and please keep your rude comments to yourself.

  4. My mom makes them with apricot brandy and simple syrup (instead of the sugar cube). They are AMAZING!

  5. Thanks for the article, giving me different ideas for making my old fashioned, love the garnishes!

  6. To the pits of hell with the hater Karens. Great article and good recipe too! I recently moved back to Wisconsin and am happy to be where folks treasure the Old Fashion Drink from the north woods! Thanks for the recipe!

  7. My best friend I’d from and lives in WI, and the first time I visited, we went out for fish fry Friday and my very first Brandy Old Fashioned sweet. And I’m hooked, that’s all I drank for a week, still drinking them. Mmmmm

  8. No self respecting Wisconsinite would be caught serving a brandy old fashioned sweet with Aristocrat brandy. Real Wisconsinites use Korbel brandy. Just saying.

  9. Love this recipe! It’s exactly what you’ll get in a traditional Wisconsin supper club. We visited Walworth County last summer to check out all the beautiful display gardens and after a day of hiking, a brandy fashioned and fish fry hit the spot!

  10. I’m finding that brandy is very under-appreciated, especially with all the bourbon snobs out there. Brandy Old Fashioned is the only way to go unless you are a flatlander from Chicago where they only make them with bourbon.

  11. Not sure why I’ve taken an interest in cocktails; I usually drink beer. But Wisconsin Old-Fashioneds somehow came on my radar screen. 🙂 Is Fresca okay for the top-up, or does it need to be Sprite, 7-Up, or Squirt? I made one the other night but all I had was Canada Dry diet ginger ale; it worked, but I think club soda would have been better. I also didn’t have the right glassware, but I’ve ordered some and it gets here tomorrow so I can try again. (I have E&J VS brandy, I didn’t see Korbel at the liquor store but I probably just missed it) Thanks.

    1. You could use a Fresca, it would be a good replacement for Squirt, giving you an brandy old fashioned sour. The glassware is probably the least important factor, there are a lot of bars around here that will make you a double old fashioned in a pint glass. Feel free to use whatever brandy you have on hand, you could even substitute a whiskey for a whiskey old fashioned!

  12. Thanks for all the amazing ways to make an old fashion. I live in Wisconsin and I would like to make old fashions for a party I’m having . This helps a lot since I’ve never made these before.

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