"Sour" old fashioned?

[adamjaskie]

So a few weeks ago, I was in a bar and ordered an old fashioned, which I suppose is my favorite cocktail. I make my own at home, with rye, but generally have to order it with Maker's Mark or even Jack at bars, at least the ones in the town where I was going to school.

Anyway, the bartender asks me if I want it "sour" or "sweet". Somewhat confused, I order sweet, and got... well, almost an old fashioned, though he filled the glass with crushed ice and fruit and topped it off with soda water. This, alas, is pretty typical, but I had not heard the "sour or sweet" question before, and was curious as to what I would have gotten had I ordered a "sour" old fashioned. Does anyone know?

 

[Shane]

So a few weeks ago, I was in a bar and ordered an old fashioned, which I suppose is my favorite cocktail. I make my own at home, with rye, but generally have to order it with Maker's Mark or even Jack at bars, at least the ones in the town where I was going to school.

Anyway, the bartender asks me if I want it "sour" or "sweet". Somewhat confused, I order sweet, and got... well, almost an old fashioned, though he filled the glass with crushed ice and fruit and topped it off with soda water. This, alas, is pretty typical, but I had not heard the "sour or sweet" question before, and was curious as to what I would have gotten had I ordered a "sour" old fashioned. Does anyone know?

Maybe lemon juice instead of the simple syrup? But I suppose that would make a whiskey sour. Perhaps lemon juice in addition to the simple syrup, which doesn't sound too bad.

 

[nobodyspecial]

Growing up in cental Minnesota, the standard cocktail was a sour or sweet, both were made with brandy unless you specified whiskey. A sour was brandy with Squirt soda, a sweet was brandy with 7-Up soda. I'm certain to this day in the area if you ordered a sour or sweet you would get the same thing. For my parents generation, if you were not drinking beer, the vast majority of people drank a sour or sweet.

 

[adamjaskie]

Huh, perhaps it's just the area, then. I've not been asked that downstate.

When I make an old fashioned, it's a teaspoon of sugar in a rocks glass, just enough water to dissolve it (about a teaspoon) with a little stirring, a couple dashes of orange bitters, a few fingers of rye (or bourbon if I'm out of rye), and a few ice cubes. If I want a change, I'll use angostura, or sometimes use brown sugar instead of white.

 

[nobodyspecial]

Central Minnesota is nearly all decendants from Germany, my guess is that enters into the drinks as well.

 

[adamjaskie]

The Upper Peninsula is mostly Finns (or at least the ones that stuck around; there were other immigrants during the mining years, but the finns stuck around and farmed rather than leave the area when the mines closed down), but they identify more with WI and MN than with the rest of MI.