Most of the world drinks brandy—if they drink it at all—as an after-dinner digestif, and in most of the United States, its popularity is limited. But Wisconsinites love the stuff. We use it instead of whiskey or gin in classic cocktails such as the Old Fashioned, Manhattans, and martinis. We freeze it and mix it with sweet tea and juice to make Wisconsin’s version of sangria, the Brandy Slush, and blend it with ice cream and crème de cacao to make a Brandy Alexander, which in Wisconsin is an ice-cream drink.
The state drinks so much brandy that Korbel claims that Wisconsin consumes more than half of all Korbel brandy cases sold each year. And Korbel is not a local company—it’s a California winery making brandy from grapes grown in California.
For most spirits, such as vodka and gin, their popularity does not vary much by state. But distributors consider Wisconsin the center of the “brandy belt,” which stretches into Minnesota and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. “Everyone wants brandy. Everyone asks for brandy,” says Ross Salchow of Great Lakes Distillery in Milwaukee. “They’re always eager to try anything brandy.” A preference for brandy is a telltale sign one is from the Upper Midwest.
According to Jeanette Hurt, Wisconsinites used to drink old fashioneds with whiskey, just like everybody else. But sometime between the 1890s and 1960s, she discovered, while conducting research for her book Wisconsin Cocktails, bartenders started replacing whiskey with brandy, a change that has endured to this day.
For years, local bartenders and journalists have traced brandy’s popularity back to the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893, also known as the Chicago World’s Fair. Thousands and thousands of Wisconsinites traveled by train to the fair, sampled the Bohemian-born Korbel brothers’ brandy, which was exhibited at the event, and returned home with a thirst for this distilled spirit.
Although a quaint and convenient explanation for Wisconsin’s brandy obsession, Hurt was unable to verify that the World’s Fair kicked off the state’s love affair with brandy. She concluded that the story Wisconsinites have been telling themselves for years about this beloved quirk was downright wrong.
Wisconsinites also tend to have a no-nonsense approach to life, which extends to sticking with what works, cocktail traditions included. It may seem stubborn, but to us, it’s a long-standing commitment to the state’s traditions. We’re not swayed by trends. We don’t really care how anyone else drinks. And we’re not looking to change anytime soon.
Traditional Wisconsin Old Fashioned
Aubrey Dodd, mixologist, Badger Liquor
Reprinted from Wisconsin Cocktails by Jeanette Hurt with permission of the University of Wisconsin Press. © 2020 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. All rights reserved.
1 to 3 sugar cubes
2 dashes Angostura bitters, or other bitters
1 orange wedge 1 cherry, preferably Filthy Cherries
2 oz. brandy
1 to 2 oz. lemon-lime soda, sour soda, and/or seltzer
GLASS: rocks or old fashioned
GARNISH: orange wedge and cherry on a toothpick
Place the sugar cube in the bottom of your old fashioned glass (also called a short tumbler or lowball or rocks glass). Dash the bitters on top of the cube or cubes. Then add the orange wedge and cherry, and brandy, muddling the mix together until it becomes a slushy, grainy mix—about five or six good crushes with a muddler should do it. And it’s important not to muddle just the fruity part of the orange slice— muddling the peel will release its oils and add aromatics to the drink. Add ice and top with lemon-lime soda, sour soda, and/or seltzer. For an Old Fashioned sweet, use lemon-lime soda.
For an Old Fashioned sour, use a sour soda such as Squirt. For an Old Fashioned soda, use seltzer water, and for an Old Fashioned press, use half seltzer and half lemon-lime soda. Garnish with another orange wedge and cherry on a toothpick.
