And with this video, I was hooked on making and creating cocktails. I had a phase where all I did was make daily (or, you know, more often than that during peak COVID) gin cocktails. I had another phase of whiskey cocktails. And then I started dabbling in various versions of champagne cocktails. Then I went back to gin… All over the place at times.

But there was one consistency… I would always come back to the “classic of classic cocktails”, the Old Fashioned. I started with Jeff Solomon’s version (1 min, 45 seconds into the video): white sugar cube plus 3-4 dashes of bitters plus small drop of soda water, muddled; whiskey; big rock; then rabbit ears garnish (orange and lemon twist, expressed). And I quickly explored versions of it: demerara or turbinado sugar; bar spoon of sugar rather than a cube; orange garnish alone; lemon garnish alone; rye instead of whiskey; add a luxardo cherry; etc.; etc.; etc. And I never really got to a point of “wow, this is it. This is the best version.” Every different version was just that… different. Not necessarily better, not necessarily worse. And now the Old Fashioned is my go-to beverage (at the appropriate establishment, mind you; I will drink my Guinness at the Irish Pub and explore various wines at a nice wine bar), and I still haven’t figured out the best one.

I’ve had some really good Old Fashioneds in Washington, D.C. I’ve had some weird ones. And I’ve had some that probably can’t even be truly considered an Old Fashioned. But it got me thinking… is there a clear Best Old Fashioned in DC? Well. That’s what I want to find out. And that’s what this site is all about. Come along with my journey to find the best Old Fashioned in DC.