Wisconsin's Most Popular Drink

I figured somebody had to do it, might as well be me. So I goolged away...

The brandy old-fashioned
Solving the mystery behind Wisconsin's real state drink

By Jerry Minnich

"Brandy old-fashioned. Sweet. Korbel." Any bartender in any Wisconsin supper club can make it with his eyes closed. It's a wonder the drinks aren't lined up under the bar, pre-made.

When I moved to Wisconsin from New Jersey many years ago, I was mystified when, upon ordering a Manhattan, I was served a brandy Manhattan. Soon, I discovered that an old-fashioned was actually a brandy old-fashioned, and that "brandy and Seven" was considered a potable drink.

Fish-fry authority Jeff Hagen, in his acclaimed book Fry Me to the Moon, declares the brandy old-fashioned to be Wisconsin's State Drink. "Milk?" says Jeff. "Forget it. Got brandy?"

For more than 30 years, I have wondered how this came to be. Why brandy? And a related question: Why Korbel brandy? Korbel is only the fourth leading brand in the U.S., yet it has a virtual lock on the Wisconsin market, outselling any other brand by more than two-to-one.

While others pondered the mystery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the lost island of Atlantis, I lay awake nights wondering, "Why brandy? Why Korbel? Why here?"

Read more.

Or if you need to try it straight-away:

Brandy Old-Fashioned
(From the Avenue Bar)
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
2 dashes bitters
1-1/2 ounces brandy
7-Up

Spoon sugar into one 6-ounce cocktail glass. Add bitters. Dissolve quickly with a splash of 7-Up, then add brandy, followed by ice cubes. Top off with 7-Up, and garnish with an orange slice and a maraschino on a toothpick. (Good bartenders skewer the orange slice from bottom to top with the cherry in the middle, which they call a "flag.")

Avenue Bar
1128 E. Washington Ave.
608-257-6877