Drink Indiana: The Old Fashioned

There are two very distinct ends to the cocktail spectrum, and – despite years of progress elsewhere – men and women are for the most part very different.

If any doubt about men and women’s drinking preferences rises from that statement, just look to what almost everybody looks to when wondering how people function: pop culture.

On “Mad Men,” how many times have you seen Don Draper order an apple martini? On “Sex and the City,” how many times have you seen Carrie Bradshaw order an Old Fashioned?

Because of the gender divide in alcoholic beverages, some drinking establishments (bars) sway more to one side of the spectrum in favor of a particular clientele and, being as general and stereotypical as possible, there are two basic types.

Type #1: The party-time people.

This group is made up of the people who drink to get drunk and have fun, and prefer that their beverages not taste like they’re laced with that social lubricant called alcohol.

Type #2: The thinker-drinkers.

These are the people who like to know they’re drinking alcohol and like to taste each individual hint of flavor and bitterness. The thinking that comes after is just a bonus.

For the most part, Indiana is mostly made up of the let’s-go-out-and-dance type of atmosphere.

So in a town that makes a priority of drinks that are sweet, colorful, flavorful and hangover-inducing, where are the type-twos supposed to go to get their whiskey ensembles?

More specifically, where should one go to get a great Old Fashioned?

Just like all great examples of love, it’s difficult to find, but not impossible.

Out of the countless times that I have ordered an Old Fashioned in Indiana, the bartender knew what an Old Fashioned was on only four occasions.

Out of those four, two of them were exactly what an Old Fashioned should

be.

The first instance of this perfection