Indian Spiced Old Fashioned

Old Overholt rye, aromatic spices, bitters, Lagavulin mist

The Old Fashioned is less a cocktail than the definition of one. When an American newspaper first set the word down in 1806, the thing it described was spirit, sugar, water and bitters. Four elements, nothing else. Everything since has been elaboration, and asking for a drink made the old-fashioned way is asking to go back to those four.

So it is a template, and a template invites an argument. Ours is that the four elements travel: keep the structure exactly where it is and change the accent.

The spirit stays American. Old Overholt is a straight rye with a peppery spine, and rye matters here in a way bourbon would not — the extra sweetness would soften the drink at precisely the point it should stay upright. The spice meets that pepper instead of fighting it, which is the reason the drink works rather than merely sounding like it should.

Aromatic spice and bitters do the rest, stirred down over ice rather than shaken. Stirring is not fussiness. Shaking aerates and clouds a drink, and a spirit-forward glass wants to stay clear and heavy; the only water in it should be the water it earns from the ice.

Then the finish, which is also the theatre: a mist of Lagavulin sprayed across the surface as it goes out. Islay whisky is peated, and peat smoke reaches you well before the glass does. Most of what we call taste is smell, so a drink that arrives smelling of woodsmoke has half happened already. The smoke sits on top rather than in it and fades across the glass, which means the last mouthful is not quite the drink the first one was.

It is one of the two we are known for, the House Paanch being the other. It has no strong opinions about whether it belongs before dinner or after.

Dietary & spice

A cocktail rather than a dish, so it is not on the kitchen’s allergy menu, which covers the food. If you have an allergy, tell the bartender before you order. Not drinking? The bar pours zero-proof cocktails, lassis and fresh coconut water.

Indian Spiced Old Fashioned.