Since this blog has the term “old fashioned” at the beginning of the name, I think it’s time we turn our attention away briefly from baseball to something we all enjoy:  alcohol.  Smack dab in the middle of the new condo buildings, pizza parlors, sports bars, other smaller shops, and passed out/hibernating Blackhawks fans, lies an interesting gem of a bar.  Opened in 2013, Old Fifth boasts “whiskey, pizza, and social fare” on their website’s home page, and they deliver in a great way.

I remember walking in there for the first time in the Fall of 2013.  The idea of a whiskey bar in the West Loop really enticed me.  Instead of venturing up to River North and bumping into pretentious douche after pretentious douche just to get my fix of single malt scotch, I could just hop on a bus and be at Old Fifth in approximately ten minutes.

As I walked in that first time, I remember thinking this place looks expensive. Well guess what?  If you want cheap beer, you can get your PBR in a can.  But if you want to class it up a bit, you will definitely be in awe of the three fully stocked shelves of whiskey and bourbon on the left end of the bar, and three shelves of single malt scotch on the right end of the bar.  They also have a nice line of their own signature cocktails.  Their food is also quite exceptional, from the truffle fries served with a truffle aioli sauce, to the tator tots stuffed with bacon and cheese, topped with horseradish sauce and a jalapeno pepper slice, to the various pizza styles, Old Fifth does boast some very appetizing food options.

The first item on their craft cocktail list is their Old Fashioned:  Buffalo Trace bourbon, Demerara syrup, and Angostura bitters. Old Fifth’s recipe includes two maraschino cherries and an orange peel to their drink, with two or three thick ice cubes.  The result is the most delicious craft cocktail I’ve had to date.  (Side note: I am not afraid to admit it, but at that stage in my life, I had never had an Old Fashioned before, nor had I seen even a single episode of AMC’s Mad Men.  Now that I am well into the 6th season of the fantastic series, I have come to realize that Don Draper had excellent taste in alcohol.)

Old Fifth has a history page on their website explaining the origin of their bar name, but simply put, the West Loop used to be the “old fifth” ward of Chicago prior to the Great Chicago fire (not to be confused with the Chicago Fire soccer team; they are not great at all).

I have been to at least two dozen other bars in Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Milwaukee, in search of a comparable Old Fashioned, and at almost every other place they are mostly all crap, even the ones that specifically list Old Fashioned as one of their signature cocktails.  Why is there such a variance between the quality of this drink?  Are my taste buds that more refined than the average person? (The answer is:  No, Nathan, so stop being a pretentious douche).  I have watched several bartenders outside of the West Loop make this drink.  Many places use actual packets of Sweet ‘N Low or Splenda, muddle orange and/or cherries, a full glass of ice, and then pour bourbon to the rim of the glass.  What you end up getting is a watered-down bourbon and fruit cocktail with sweetener in it.  Needless to say, the search is on for a variation of this drink that gives Old Fifth a run for their money.

I have reverse engineered the Old Fifth’s Old Fashioned to the best of my ability, although I do not include the orange peel or cherries to my drink.  I’m a little lazy like that.  It’s very close, but I still have to go out and have this $11 masterpiece at least once a week.  The Daily Beast published a very well-written piece about the history of the Old Fashioned, its resurgence as a cocktail mainstay, and also led me to the 2014 book, “The Old-Fashioned: The Story of the World’s First Classic Cocktail, with Recipes and Lore” by Robert Simonson.  Needless to say, I ordered this book last night, and it will soon be apart of my library.  Over the course of time, I will try some of these recipes, submit some photographs of the finished drink, and report back to you the results.

Until then, whether you’re in Chicago to catch a Bulls or Hawks game (or a baseball game at this time of year) and you need a place to pre-game or have post-game victory drinks (or both; nobody’s judging your drunk ass), or if you’re in town for vacation or a business trip, this bar on 1027 W Madison St has everything your stomach and liver desires.  Cheers!