Why we love our Wisconsin brandy old fashioneds
We have a lot of unique food traditions here in Wisconsin. From these unconventional brandy old fashioned cocktails to chicken booyah and deep fried cheese curds (which I will attempt to recreate without cheese), there are so many awesome foods I want to teach your about. So I’ve decided to start The Supper Club Series to share classic Wisconsin recipes and recreate them without milk when needed.
The first in the series is Wisconsin’s most classic cocktail: the brandy old fashioned. A traditional old fashioned cocktail uses whiskey, but here, we make them with brandy.
The reasons aren’t really clear, since most of this sort of stuff gets lost to history. Popular theories are that brandy was more familiar to German immigrants and that brandy was more readily available during prohibition times, but I’ll leave the historical internet research to you. Just know that you can order your old fashioned with either brandy or whiskey and no one will think twice about it.
Another thing that makes a Wisconsin old fashioned different than its more widespread counterpart is the “wash”. A wash is basically when you add soda or seltzer to a cocktail after mixing it. I’ve described the different ways we use this wash below, and you can choose whichever option you like best.
If you like this recipe, you have to try this related recipe, and this one and this one.
Searching for more Wisconsin inspired recipes? Pickled eggs / Booyah / Beer brats / Pumpkin beer cheese soup / Door County sour cherry pie
More cocktails fun: Wisconsin brandy slush / beer float / Pink squirrel / brandy Manhattan / golden cadillac
Ingredients:
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions listed below are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
- Brandy – Korbel is one of the most popular brands used for this cocktail in Wisconsin. Feel free to upgrade and use your favorite brandy. See dairy free tip note below regarding hidden dairy in alcohol.
- Bitters – Angostura bitters are the go-to option—they add that classic hint of spice and warmth that pairs perfectly with the brandy and sweetness of the drink. But if you’re feeling adventurous, you could try orange bitters for a touch of citrus, or even cherry bitters to bring out the cocktail’s fruity side.
- Sugar cubes – The classic way to sweeten this cocktail is to muddle with a sugar cube, you can granulated sugar (about ½ to 1 teaspoon) or a simple syrup to sweeten if you prefer.
- Oranges – Just a basic navel orange will work, sliced in half moon bar slices.
- Cherries – Go for maraschino cherries—they’re the most common and traditional. A lot of Wisconsinites use the cherries from their cherry bounce (brandy soaked local sour cherries) to elevate their old fashioneds but you can use Luxardo cherries—they are the most similar to the cherries you would find in cherry bounce.
The following is a detailed overview of the recipe steps with added tips and tricks for recipe success. For a simplified and printable version, including ingredient amounts and more formal instructions, see the recipe card below.
How to make a Wisconsin brandy old fashioned
Muddle the flavors. In an old fashioned glass, muddle an orange slice, maraschino cherry with a little bit of grenadine from the jar, sugar cube and a few dashes of bitters. Traditionally, Angostura bitters are used, but you can use another flavor if you want.
Add brandy and ice. On top of your muddled ingredients, add in 1 jigger of brandy (or a little more if you want). Stir the liquor around, and fill your glass with ice.
Top it off and garnish. Read below to find out how we customize and garnish a brandy old fashioned in Wisconsin.
More classic cocktail recipes. Hemingway daiquiri / Pimm’s cup / Bourbon sidecar / Penicillin cocktail / Clover Club cocktail
* dairy free recipe tip
Not all alcohol is dairy free. Please make sure you’re choosing brands that aren’t processed using milk products. I normally reference this site’s database to see if the product I’m looking for is vegan, or to see if there’s a safe alternative. In this case, Korbel brandy, one of Wisconsin’s more popular brands, isn’t vegan friendly, so I’ve chosen a different option. This is a great please to search for vegan friendly alcohol.
Sweet, sour or press: wash it your way
To make this a true Wisconsin style old fashioned, you have a two traditional choices once you muddle your drink, add your liquor and ice. Sweet or sour. If you want to make a brandy old fashioned sweet, you would top your drink with lemon-lime soda like Sprite or 7Up. For a brandy old fashioned sour, you would use grapefruit soda, like 50/50 or Squirt.
But, my favorite way to make this cocktail is a press. Instead of soda, I top my drink with half lemon-lime soda and half seltzer water (or club soda). I order mine like this to cut down on the amount of sugar, but I also think it lets the other flavors in the cocktail shine through.
Garnish your brandy old fashioned like a Wisconsinite
Regardless of how you like your old fashioned, there’s one thing you don’t want to skip, and that’s the garnish. If you order an old fashioned at a bar in Wisconsin, you’ll be asked what kind of garnish you want. Cherries are an obvious choice (and what I always go with), but lots of people choose olives or pickled mushrooms. Good bars will even stock pickled Brussels sprouts, so you could choose that as well.
If you’re making these drinks at home, cherries and olives are a great start. If you like and will use the pickled mushrooms, get those, too.
Wisconsin Brandy Old Fashioned
Ingredients
- 1 orange slice
- 1 maraschino cherry + 1 teaspoon cherry juice
- 1 sugar cube
- 4 – 6 dashes Angostura bitters
- 1 1/2 ounces brandy
- Ice
- Lemon-lime, grapefruit soda or seltzer water
Instructions
- In an old fashioned glass, muddle orange slice, cherry, cherry juice, sugar cube and bitters.
- Add brandy and fill glass with ice.
- Top with soda of choice.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
Trevor loves old fashioneds so much!
Yes! That’s because they’re the best 🙂
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.
I don’t know you but i like your style
May aunt born and raised in Oconto county made her brandy Old Fashioned with home made pickled green beans….the only way to fly!!
Oh pickled green beans sound great! What a good idea!
50/50 and squirt are just fine, but let’s not forget Jolly Good sour pow’r!
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
really great I loved trying the press version
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.
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. 👎🏻
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.
Thanks for the recipe! My grampa was a dairy farmer near Gresham and was severely allergic to dairy. It happens. Keep your cool and let other people live their best lives.
Good comment, I totally agree.
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.
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.
I’m in Wisconsin. I make and drink old fashions for 60 years.
My mom makes them with apricot brandy and simple syrup (instead of the sugar cube). They are AMAZING!
That sounds fantastic!
I would love to hear your recipe too, Joan.
Thanks for the article, giving me different ideas for making my old fashioned, love the garnishes!
I have a hard time finding bitters so I use ginger ale. Very good
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!