Sweet Science - The Old Fashioned

The Old Fashioned - Brown Sugar Ice Cream with Cherry Vanilla Bitters, Rye Whiskey, Brandied Cherries and a Twist of Orange 

We return again to the Saint-Paul-based Sweet Science for another one of their cocktail flavors.  Last week, it was the White Russian, today we try The Old Fashioned.  This looks like an interesting flavor.  The Old Fashioned cocktail has been around since the early 1800s.  Later in that century, it picked up its "old fashioned" moniker. It has been an old drink for 130 years!

Opening the pint, the base has a beige-ish color and looks very soft.  I have been told that alchohol-based ice creams don't freeze as hard and that is consistent with what I am seeing here.  Also visible are a couple of the brandied cherries.  In the first spoonful, the bitters and the twist of orange give a bit of a non-sweet, but fruity taste.  I guess that is why they call it 'bitters'.  The brown sugar in the base is fairly subtle.  It is just providing a vehicle for the mixed-drink ingredients.  There is quite a bit of whiskey flavor in there as well.  The whiskey is especially noticeable at the end of each spoonful.  I am not very familiar with the Old Fashioned as a mixed drink, but this ice cream definitely re-creates the feeling of having a whiskey-based cocktail in ice cream form.  The brandied cherries are quite potent in that they have a lot of brandy in them.  They were good though.  As I continued eating, the ice cream got softer and the alcohol seemed to get stronger.  I didn't get tipsy or anything but the bottom of the pint almost tasted like a mixed drink with some cream.  Of all the booze-infused ice creams that I have had, this one definitely was the booziest.

This was a very interesting pint.  It was a very good representation of a cocktail-as-ice-cream and they took what is normally an optional garnish to that cocktail -- the cherry -- and turned it into a potent mix-in.  If an Old Fashioned is your favorite drink then you should check this out.  I don't know if it would be my favorite drink, but I am intrigued about other cocktails they could try.