Old Fashioned!

While waiting for our table for Gyu-Kaku we noticed a very fancy bar thing not too far from where were: Wellesbourne. Very unbar-like from the outside, looks like something where you might noblemen and dukes and Haaaaahvahd Grads to hang out.

So, we looked it up, and it is, in a nutshell, a bar with books. Not to read, I presume. More to look at and create atmosphere. It was decided then & there that the following week our date-night shall be at this bar and it shall be grand. And Grand It Was!

Since I'm a terrible writer I'll get down to it: This is my new favorite bar. The decor really did feel like they revamped a 1920's gentleman's lounge (you know, the pipe-smoking politics-discussing lounge thing) and made a bar out of it. Atmosphere was great and warrants a bit of exploring before you make yourself comfortable!

The place was a bit packed, as most bars tend to be, but we found ourselves some seats at the bar itself (not one of the fanciful booths) and proceeded to order drinks! I ordered a rum & coke which somehow got mixed up in translation and turned into a rather tasty Mojito. Wifey ordered .. something .. I think it involved cranberries. Anyway, as we're sitting there having a grand conversation Wifey suddenly gets distracted. She does that, you know. Something needs only be either shiny or on fire, and it has her full undivided attention.

This particular thing was not shiny. It was, in fact, in fire. Well, not so much on fire as much as it was blasted. With fire. Enough for Wifey! She beckoned the bartender closer and inquired as to the firey spectacle, to which he responded that that is an "Old Fashioned" and that this particular bar is the only place he knows of that makes the right, or rather I should say: traditional. And apparently, traditional means fire.

He also told us it's a Whiskey drink. Bourbon, in particular. This immediately voided all interest in the firey drink, for who really wants to drink jetfuel? Not us! And we've tried. But no, the bartender insists, this is the whiskey drink that turned him onto Whiskey.

We give him suspicious looks. But he persists. We concede and say we'll try it. He's more than happy to make me an Old Fashioned (the Wifey agrees to just try a taste of it). And so bartender goes about mixing his concoction. He throws in Whiskey, Bitters, and ice. Stirs it a bunch, then takes a freshly cut orange peel and rubs it around the edge of the glass (inside an out). Ok, I'm following-ish.

Then lights a match, heats up the orange peel a bit, and then hovers the lit match above the drink and quickly squeezes the orange peel. FMOOMMFH! FIRE!

He does it a second time.

And then hands it over to me.

I raise an eyebrow, sniff it (smells like burnt orange + very subdued whiskey), and taste it.

Delicious.

The caramelized orange oil (as he explains) really cuts the whiskey and adds a teeny bit of sweet in it. You still get the whiskey flavors, but you no longer wish to set your breath on fire and destroy villages.

Wifey got a similar drink, only with Rye Whiskey but same idea - mix, set of fire, drink. Delicious.

So now I'm an "Old Fashioned" fan and if I can get it I shall order it. Which, apparently, is not available at all places. As we have learned.

-Hubby