Drink #11 Old Fashioned

1.25.2012

“History is all around us, you see.” he leaned forward on the bar, drink in hand. “This place, the booze, that dame. It’s all got history. Do you ever get the feeling life is just flying by and you’re not taking full advantage of it? Well do you?”

His date relaxed her slender fingers around her drink, tucking her porcelain chin into her dress collar like the wind was blowing down the block. A red curl of hair fell from her peacock feather hat. “Don’t listen to him, barkeep.” She purred, “He’s drunk. He’s got a mouth full of marbles and a heart full of poison. He’s not to be trusted.”

The Bartender continued cleaning glasses like he was the only man in the room, barely raising an eyebrow.

“I want your finest drink. I want to make history with my thirst.” He motioned to the top shelf. “I want to give my liver a gift I can’t give my soul.”

“I’ll second that order,” She laughed at her date, “damned if I can’t drink to that.”

The Bartender grabbed a few sugar cubes, two highballs and steadied himself for a long night in.
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You know, one of the absolute best decisions I’ve made about this Adventure is to do it while living in Washington, DC. Aside from perhaps Boston, New York City or maybe–heaven forbid–Los Angeles, DC is the perfect city to try alcohol for the first time.

DC has unbeatable history, fantastic bars and legendary nightlife which makes for a year’s worth of potential greatness to buttress my drink choices.

So when I knew I was going to have my first Old Fashioned–one of the oldest modern cocktails from the early 1800’s–I knew I had to have it at one of DC’s oldest and most famous bars, The Old Ebbitt Grill.

I thought about waiting a bit longer in the Adventure before visiting this drink, this bar, but then I thought “I waited 35 years to even have a first drink, I’m not going to wait 50 firstdrinks before experiencing this opportunity.”

I was also excited because my good friend Susanne–a stunner in throwback–was going to be joining me and she immediately got into the spirit and tone of this specific Adventure. It was a solid match from all angles.

And yes, I dressed handsomely for this drink.

I choose a brown tweed sports jacket with collegial leather elbow patches, brown pants, shoes, and a green sweater with a orange paisley tie. Susanne was died to match in a brown sweater and skirt, heels and an amazing peacock feather fascinator in her hair google it.

We were dressed to drink, my friends.

Susanne ordered for us both, explaining “who I was” to the Bartender. He looked amused and started making us each an Old Fashioned.

If you’re not familiar, an Old Fashioned is typically a whiskey drink, but it can be made with brandy. You take a highball, add a sugar cube, muddle in an orange slice, a dash of bitters, some ice, pour in the whiskey and some soda water to finish.

Ours also had a maraschino cherry and was made with Marker’s Mark.

Did you read my last post about my firstdrink of chardonnay? You know, where I said it was the most alcoholy of the drinks I don’t care if “alcoholy” is not a real word, it works? Well, it only took one more drink to smash that record.

I would be lying to you if I didn’t first think “oh lord, gasoline, he served me gasoline!” on my first sip. Please be kind to the virgin.

After a few more sips, It really grew on me. It was bold. I kept thinking leather, cedar, rye bread toast, burnt notes. Maybe sometimes hints of cloves or black licorice? It was smooth. I could certainly taste the orange, but I had to search for the sugar, the cherry. It was a cold drink but it went down warm.

I never felt more like an adult. I felt like at any moment my son would come home from school complete with slingshot in his back pocket, visit me in my den–where I smoked my pipe–while my apron-clad husband called to me from the kitchen making meatloaf and baked Alaska from scratch.

[Do I mention that in my dream black&white 50’s fantasy I have a son, a den, and I read the newspaper daily, but that I’m still gay married. Or as we like to call it, “married”? Eh, I’ll think it over.]

I liked the Old Fashioned very much. It was striking, yet a good sipping drink. It made me a bit light-headed and warm. As my first taste of whiskey, I can say it was a welcome surprise.

Likewise, I enjoyed Old Ebbitt, a great bar full of walnut molding, history, visitors, locals, politicians and noise. You feel distinguished just being there.

And Susanne as my date was divine. She’s funny, wise and relaxed. And she even paid for my drink, proving that while it felt like old times, we were living in the modern age.

Cheers to Susanne, Old Ebbitt and the Old Fashioned. If I’m going to live in DC, I need to act like I live in DC. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a crime to solve or my husband is calling to me from my den to the dinner table or some other nostalgic claptrap I’ve got going in my head.

Cheers, Ben


PS: Brace yourself, I’m planning for my firstdrink kamikaze shot this week, and then there will be a mystery drink–even to me for the weekend! And I’m planning on releasing details about my February Happy Hour event by the weekend. So stay tuned to the Adventure!