Mad Men is not only about the greatest advertising man in history, but its third season premiere has clearly been managed by the second-greatest ad man in history. If you haven’t created an avatar or personally met series-star Jon Hamm by now, then you have at least read a few stories about the only show that promotes serious drinking — other than True Blood.
If you’re wondering why so there are so many articles about cocktails and Mad Men, let me explain this phenomenon in a Venn diagram for you:
As you can see by the above illustration, 100 percent of the people who enjoy Mad Men also enjoy drinking. So if you plan to host a premiere-viewing party in your home, be sure to not burn the roast and to stock your liquor cabinet. AMC has made a number of very good suggestions including Don Draper’s favorite, the Old Fashioned:
To make: 2 dashes aromatic bitters; ½ tsp sugar dissolved with water and bitters; 1½ oz of bourbon; 1 cherry; 1 orange slice; 1 lemon wedge. Muddle orange and cherry with simple syrup. Fill rocks glass with ice. Pour in bourbon. Add cherry, orange slice and lemon wedge. Ruminate on your shadowy past.
Alternatively, for a sobering-but-strong cocktail I highly recommend the Moscow Mule:
To make: 1¼ oz vodka; 3 oz ginger beer; 1 tsp sugar syrup; ¼ oz lime juice; 1 sprig mint; 1 slice lime. In a copper mug or a glass, pour vodka over ice. Add sugar syrup and lime juice. Top with ginger beer and stir. Garnish with mint sprig and lime slice.
(The above pictures come from Brooklyn’s Sidecar where they stock the inestimably good (and surprisingly cheap) Tito’s Vodka. They may not have made vodka in Texas during Draper’s lifetime, but the prices are at least somewhat closer to what he was paying.)
[Editor's note: Who needs these recipes when you've got Sally Draper around to make you a Tom Collins?]
Of course, for all Mad Men’s felicity to the time period, the AMC recipe guide misses one excellent element of the era: the pitcher of cocktails. They’re a great way to serve hard liquor to a large number of guests, and much higher quality than those bug-juice punches you remember from college. If you’re wondering what to offer for your premiere party, I strongly recommend the Yankee Punch from 1948’s Fine Art of Mixing Drinks: 2 quarts of rye whiskey; 1 pint New England rum; 6 lemons, sliced; 1 pineapple, sliced; 4 quarts of water; sugar to taste; and ice. New England rum is as nonexistent these days as Texan vodka was back then, so substitute with Lamb’s Navy Rum or just a Jamaican dark rum.
The Yankee Punch is an ideal drink for watching TV: make one big bowl so you don’t have to rush for the shaker during commercial breaks. But if you do choose to drink by the pitcher then make sure to DVR that premiere: you might just not remember it the next morning.
Comments (8)
hahaha best. venn diagram. ever. thanks for the recipes!
I'll have 2 of each please. And, I promise not to piss my pants before the big meeting!
Dude, watch the show. Don NEVER has that muddled crap in his drinks. Probably because the people who make the show know it's not historically accurate. Fruit was never intended to be part of the Old Fashioned: http://www.esquire.com/drinks/old-fashioned-drink…
Absolutely no fruit – and another thing, aren't you supposed to slowly add the bourbon while slowly adding more ice, stirring as you go. Whether it's a mental thing or not, it always tastes better to me when it's prepared that way.
Muddled fruit in the Old Fashioned is a sacrilege! Never ever, ever do this. And the nuclear fall out cherry? Its definitely shouldn't be smashed – otherwise you will contaminate the whole room for a half-life-period of minimum 50 years!
I hear you… Sorry to say it but that is the "official" Mad Men old-fashioned, per AMC: http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/cocktail-gu…
Also, watch the episode My Old Kentucky Home. When Don makes a drink himself at the country club I am pretty sure he includes a cherry and orange there too. And it doesn't look like they're using Luxardo cherries there either.
This may be a historical mistake on the part of the show –or maybe it's historically correct for the '60s when the show takes place. I can't argue with Wondrich but I've never gotten the impression that anyone in the '60s was trying to be true to the "original" recipes the way that bartenders and drinkers are trying to today.
They use it as garnish on the site, not muddled in the drink. Using the fruit as garnish is debatable, and generally acceptable, but it's clear that in your picture the fruit has been muddled into the drink. And what Don crushed in the glass was the sugar cube soaked in bitters, he dropped it in first and you could hear it crunch when he crushed it with the spoon.
The orange, cherry and sugar is muddled in a mixing glass, add Bourbon, stir, THEN strain into a rocks glass filled with ice. The mistake some might be making is not straining the muddled ingredients.
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