The Brandy Old Fashioned: Wisconsin's State Drink
Wisconsin drinks its Old Fashioneds with brandy, not whiskey, muddled with fruit, and finished with Sprite or sour. Here is why.
Order an Old Fashioned in most of the United States and you will get whiskey, sugar, bitters, and an orange peel. Order one in Wisconsin and you will get brandy — usually Korbel — muddled with an orange slice and a maraschino cherry, sweetened with muddled sugar, bittered with Angostura, and lengthened with either Sprite (a 'Sweet') or sour mix (a 'Sour') or seltzer (a 'Press').
This is not a mistake. It is Wisconsin's state drink, effectively, and it is drunk with a devotion the rest of the country reserves for regional beer.
Why brandy
The usual answer is the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Korbel Brothers — a California grape brandy producer — served their brandy at the fair, and Wisconsin's large German immigrant population, already accustomed to brandy in the old country, took to it. In the century since, Wisconsin has consistently consumed more Korbel per capita than the rest of the United States combined.
The taste for brandy over whiskey outlasted Prohibition, outlasted the mid-century American shift to bourbon, and remains unshakable today. Any supper club in Wisconsin will have a rail of Korbel and Christian Brothers and, above them, a bottle of Presidente or Kessler for premium orders.
The recipe
Muddle one orange slice, one maraschino cherry, and one sugar cube (or one bar spoon of simple syrup) in the bottom of a rocks glass. Add two dashes of Angostura bitters. Add ice — cubed, not one big cube. Pour 45 ml of Korbel brandy over the top.
Finish with a splash of the drinker's chosen mixer: Sprite/7-Up for a Sweet, sour mix for a Sour, seltzer for a Press. Stir briefly. Serve with a straw and, at a supper club, alongside a 'snit' — a small side glass of beer.
The purism debate
Craft cocktail purists will point out that the Wisconsin Old Fashioned violates the classical Old Fashioned definition on almost every axis: muddled fruit, sugar cube not syrup, an inappropriate spirit, and a topping of soda that dilutes the drink beyond recognition.
This misses the point. The Wisconsin Brandy Old Fashioned is not a variation on the New York Old Fashioned; it is a regional American cocktail that happens to share a name. Judged on its own terms — as a supper-club aperitif meant to be drunk over the course of a long dinner — it is exactly right.
How to make one at home
Use decent brandy. Korbel is traditional and cheap; a step up is Christian Brothers or Paul Masson. A California grape brandy is closer in flavor to what Wisconsinites drink than a French cognac would be, and cognac is a waste of money in this drink.
Use real maraschino cherries — Luxardo — not the fluorescent supermarket ones. The color is unnerving; the flavor is what you want.
Fresh orange slice, not a wedge of citrus that has sat on the bar all night. And do not skimp on the muddle: the fruit oils and sugar need to be crushed into a slurry before the brandy goes in.
Frequently asked
- Why Korbel specifically?
- Because Wisconsin buys most of it. Korbel is a California brandy producer whose brand has been synonymous with Wisconsin supper clubs for a century.
- Sweet, Sour, or Press?
- Sweet is the classical choice and the default in most supper clubs. Press is drier and lighter. Sour is aggressively sweet-and-sour and lives mostly in the eastern half of the state.
- What is a snit?
- A small side glass of beer served alongside a Brandy Old Fashioned in most supper clubs. Traditionally a wash between sips; culturally, part of the meal.