Perhaps you haven’t heard of Don Draper and his slim line lapels, care free attitude and tiepins. He lives within a world where men stick to certain rules. White shirts and three-piece suits, all with a morning whisky. I’ve just spent a long weekend relaxing from work watching the latest season, Season 3. What can I tell you with out giving anything away? If you’re a fan of style and exquisite dressing I imagine you would enjoy this. In my opinion a must see.
Mr Draper captures your imagination with wonderful suits and creative dialog. He is a man to aspire to in many respects with a sartorial presence and intelligent cool attitude. In another respect he has weaknesses, and constantly uses other women even though he is a man seen to have everything. On the surface he is well put together. “Calm waters run deep” is an expression that might come to mind.
In any case, in most situations one must think ‘What Would Don Do”, to immediately inject confidence into your decisions. Mad Men has influenced the modern man, to the extent that they are changing how they dress, how they wear there pocket square and especially how they drink. I’ve seen a lot of people recently drinking a Dry Martini or an Old Fashioned at lunchtime. I was thinking about this quite a lot so asked a friend of mine, our very own Jason Capper. Style Sage’s personal drinks expert and one of the great minds in the Hospital Club to tell us a little about Liquid Accessories, and how to make the infamous Old Fashioned. Ill leave you in his capable hands.
Jason Capper: Liquid Accessories:
I’m quite sure I don’t need to tell you that what you drink counts just as much in the style stakes as the watch you wear or the loafers you lounge in. You naturally hold your glass in front of your chest when standing in a bar, which is a barrier between you and the rest of the world and sets the tone for what people think of you. That Savile Row suit isn’t going to look that sophisticated if your rocking a Watermelon Bacardi Breezer … so it’s time to introduce you to the ‘Old Fashioned’. The drink dates back to around 1895 and is credited to a bartender named Martin Cuneo of the Pendennis Club in Louisville, Kentucky. Its modern popularity is as prevalent today as it was back then when it was an antidote to complex and fancy drinks with all sorts of syrups and cordials.
An Old Fashioned should take time to craft, creating it requires patience and attention to detail. It should give you the same sense of satisfaction that you get when you polish your favorite pair of shoes – that of achievement and pride of possession.
To mix one up you simply dissolve a sugar cube in Angostura aromatic bitters. (photos takes by yours truly).
and gently stir it with cubed ice while slowly adding 50ml of bourbon whiskey to a short chunky glass.
When your stirring the drink start with two ice cubes and 1/5th of the whiskey – stir it twenty times then add another little bit of the whisky. Repeat, repeat, repeat until you have used up all of the booze. You finish it of with the zest of orange or lemon and can throw in a cherry if you fancy.
Drinking it should also be a peaceful and slow paced experience, a time to reflect just how far you have come on your journey into the adulthood of alcohol from first drinking cider/kiwi schnapps/alco-pops in the park when you were a spotty faced teenager.
When it comes to choosing which whiskey to use, head to the Kentucky Bourbon section and follow the simple rule of ‘buy the best you can afford”. If you’re mixing at home a little context is required when you’re in the off license, £40 may seem a little pricy for a bottle – but just think all the joy and potential shinanigans that bottle could get you into compared with a couple of tickets to the cinema with a bag of popcorn to watch 90 minutes of tosh.
Cheers to … world peace and two tone shoes
JC
Woodford Reserve is a brand of premium small batch bourbon whiskey, and is a product of The Woodford Reserve Distillery. The distillery is located in the heart of central Kentucky’s bluegrass region. Distilling on the site began in1812and the distillery building itself was erected in 1838, making it the oldest of nine working bourbon distilleries in Kentucky.
Beautifully rich stuff, worth a try…www.woodfordreserve.com
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Of course Don Draper doesn’t drink bourbon; he drinks rye. Canadian Club.
Hello Sir,
Indeed you’re correct, but when the bar I was perched in did not have any rye, I made do. It’s great to find another obsessive Mad Men fan. To be honest it seems Don will drink anything.
Thanks for reading,
Christian
I saw the heading of this blog post – What would Don Do… | Style Sage – while I was browsing on the web a minute ago. Would it be ok if I put a link to http://www.stylesage.co.uk/his/what-would-don-do/ on my website?
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