The first step is to slowly melt one to two sticks of unsalted butter over low heat. Using unsalted butter will help to prevent your final product from being too salty. When butter is completely melted pour it into a bread pan.

It is one of few cocktails that survived from days of Martini and Manhattan. When prepared well, it is a full-bodied, delicious drink. It was one of my mother’s favorites as a young woman in 1940’s and still carries glamour of era.

Accounts agree that Old Fashioned originated at Pendennis Club, in Louisville, Kentucky.

This Old Fashioned recipe appeared in a book written by George J. Kappeler, published in 1895, called Modern American Drinks.

THE OLD-FASHIONED WHISKEY COCKTAIL

Dissolve a small lump of sugar with a little water in a whiskey-glass; add two dashes Angostura bitters, a small piece ice, a piece lemon-peel, one jigger whiskey. Mix with small bar-spoon and serve, leaving spoon in glass.

Robert Hess, writing for Drinkboy.com, cautions that it is common for modern bartenders to top off drink with an ounce or more of soda. In his opinion, soda spoils drink.