FOOD NEWS
The Old Fashioned Is The Official Cocktail Of One US City
By Aimee Lamoureux
Cocktails have been around for quite a while, and humans have been drinking some sort of fermented alcoholic beverage since almost the dawn of time. While just about every civilization has developed its own alcoholic beverages, the very first cocktail, so it's said, wasn't invented until 1806.
The Old Fashioned skyrocketed to popularity at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel bar in New York City in the late 1800s, but many argue that the Big Apple is not the drink's true hometown. The spirit allegedly got its name from bartender Colonel James E. Pepper in Louisville, Kentucky, when he concocted the beverage we now know as an Old Fashioned (via Thrillist).
The city of Louisville, Kentucky, is so proud of its association with the drink that Mayor Greg Fischer declared the Old Fashioned the city's official cocktail in 2015. In recent years, the city has celebrated its famous cocktail with two weeks of special events and celebrations.