I'm sorry you didn't dig the drink! Maybe that drink just sucks, maybe it was poorly executed by the person who made it and was undiluted or ingredients were left out.
Those acknowledgements on deck, an old fashioned is basically a straight up glass of whisky diluted with a little sugar and bitters (unless you are in Wisconsin in which case thoughts and prayers be with you).
Whisky is the whole star of the show in that one and if a guest came to complain about there being too much whisky in their old fashioned it would be quite the bridge to navigate.
An Old Fashioned is not a glass of whiskey. That's the entire purpose of the Old Fashioned, is that it is a perfect balance of ingredients that creates harmony. It is not simply "a dash of bitter and a dash of syrup." That's just whiskey with you putting a hint of something that no one can taste.
Whiskey is the star of the show, but it's perfection is the balance. That's the point of mixology. That's the point of bartender school. If I want a whiskey, why would I add anything to it? I'd get a high quality whiskey or bourbon and drink it NEAT, nothing added to it.
Do you also laugh at someone who cuts their alcohol with some ice or water? That's what experts do when tasting bourbon, are they also "diluting it"? No they know how to extract the flavors as a sommelier to understand the subtle flavors in the drink.
Get this some bartenders will use 0.25oz syrup, some 0.5 oz syrup, some will use teaspoons or one cube, some will use 120proof or 115 proof. So there are some different tasting buds involved.
But you know, try it for a while, you'll find through experience, 120proof is silly for mixed drinks. no sweetness is gonna be a drag. If you only taste bourbon or whiskey, what does it mean? It means the alcohol is overpowering your drink.
Oh you put a dash of bitter in it? Who can taste it? No one. You might as well be one of those people who think the orange peel is for flavor rather than garnish. It's a total lie. People have simply messed with the original recipes to ruin the balance.
If I want bourbon or whiskey, I can tell the bartender "hey there expert drink mixer, can you just get me a glass of bourbon neat, i.e., thanks for being a waiter rather than a bartender"
We're so used to believing this lie. Grandma says "a dash of paprika for flavor in this dish"... except no one can taste any smoke flavor from the paprika. It's a ritual, a tradition, an act of pretend--it's not actually flavoring anything.
Sometimes folks will say "yes if you put a lot of sugar into a drink, you are turning it into a drink for fatties or women" or something of that nature... Alcohol turns to glucose in your blood and is already high calorie. You need the kick of the bourbon or whiskey, you don't want it to be just bourbon/whiskey with a dash of nothing.
TL;DR: Balance for the harmony of the flavors. You didn't scam the customer with mostly sugar... And you didn't overwhelm the customer with 3oz 120 proof whiskey with a quarter-of-a-dash of bitter and a hint of lemon and a microspoon of sugar...
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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '23
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