Old Bay Ridge
Recipe:
- 45ml rye
- 45ml Linie aquavit
- 1 tsp demerara syrup
- 2 dashes Angostura bitters
(see below for my advice for small changes to this original recipe)
Stir everything in an OF glass with one large ice cube, garnish with the lemon zest.
The text in the wonderful "Old Fashioned" book by Robert Simonson describes the drink very well and gives some background:
"Wondrich, an early advocate of the old-school Old Fashioned, created this simple twist on the drink as an homage to the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bay Ridge, which "used to be poepled with Irish folks, who drank rye, and Scandinavians, who drank aquavit." The result is a drink of suprisingly complex spiciness."
It really is an absolute fall-winter Old Fashioned and even for me, as an OF fan, a little too edgy and harsh in its original recipe. A great aroma of baking spices, Nordic herbs, herbal honey, the fresh zest, very dry and spicy in the mouth. Not only that, but 90ml of spirit is quite crazy as an original recipe, you won't find that anywhere else in that book either. Ergo, I would keep the rest of the ingredients, but go down to 30ml Rye and 30ml Aquavit, then it is really balanced in my opinion, for the hard-boiled ones 35/35. I also find it nicer - for a bit more complexity - to swap one of the Angostura dashes for either Orange or Peach Bitters. Either way, a fascinating signature Old Fashioned.
Source: David Wondrich, 5 Ninth, NYC, 2005, taken from: "The Old Fashioned" by Robert Simonson
