Not so old-fashioned

It’s a well-known fact that I enjoy whiskey. Or bourbon. Or scotch. Whatever you call it, it’s all delicious to me. And while I’m partial to a whiskey neat, as a Southern woman raised right, I appreciate a handsome whiskey cocktail. It’s always nice to find an artfully made Old Fashioned, but when I discovered The Cove had no fewer than five on their cocktail menu, I had to do some in-depth whiskey whistle wetting.

A fixture on many bar menus, so often Old Fashioneds are a muddled mess of dried-out orange peel and an unnaturally red cherry served with copious amounts of simple syrup masking any nuances of the whiskey. But The Cove is trying to change that with variations using anything from maple syrup, to rye or blended scotch, and even one with St. Germain elderflower liqueur. And, of course, they make their own Maraschino cherries. In this oasis of craft cocktails, The Cove’s incredibly knowledgeable mixologists understand how to artfully prepare an Old Fashioned: with clove, spice and everything nice. For some cocktails, they even hand-crush the ice to get just the right consistency. A seersucker-clad suitor would complete the scene after ordering one of these.