Recipe: Gold Fashioned by Adam Robinson

In late October, I had the honor of managing the judging of the cocktail contest at the Great American Distillers Festival. As a result, I got to enjoy them all, and want to share some of my favorites with our readers.

Gold Fashioned

2 oz. Vermont Gold Vodka
⅓ oz. Gum syrup
2 dashes Angostura
1 dash Regan’s Orange Bitters No. 6
Orange peel for garnish

Build cocktail in a mixing glass with ice.
Stir to dilute and chill.
Strain over a Sanbitter ice cube (below) in an Old Fashioned glass.
Express the orange peel over the cocktail, and discard the peel.

Sanbitter Ice cubes:

Mix Sanbitter soda 70/30 with water and freeze for at least a day
Given that the cube will be not quite as solid and sturdy as regular water ice, large ice cube trays give better results

Adam commented “The idea behind this drink was to create a cocktail that would do three things, do the spirit justice, appeal to vodka drinkers, and appeal to the cocktail crowd. With a spirit like vodka that can be very tricky, which is why I took the simplistic approach of an Old Fashioned, but then the drink starts to get geeky as the ice melts.” For what it’s worth, the judges came back to this cocktail after it had sat for a few minutes, and some of the Sanbitter ice had melted, and added points to Adam’s score. This cocktail grew better with just a little time to settle and “get geeky”.

Adam Robinson is a Portland, OR based bartender currently managing the bar program at Scott Dolich’s domestically focused restaurant, The Bent Brick. He’s best reached via Twitter as @bitterwesley