It has become a staple in our yearly cocktail agenda: The Woodford Reserve Old Fashioned Week 2024 starts on Monday 11th November and will run all the way until Sunday the 17th. In the meantime, over 60 bars across The Netherlands will serve you their specially created variation on the classic amongst classics. Additionally, Red Carpet, the premium spirits platform by A Brand New Day, will host a series of bar take-overs by some world-renowned bars, you can book a cocktailwalk and enjoy a special dinner experience.
What’s Old Fashioned Week?
This is the week to celebrate the pinnacle of classic cocktails, the first one to be mentioned as a cocktail in print. This was on May 13th, 1806 in The Balance and Columbian Repository. In this article, the cocktail is decribed as “Cock Tail, then in a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters”. Please note that freezers didn’t exist back then and the distribution and use of iceblocks had not yet begun. This way of making a cocktail was refered to as ‘a cocktail made in the old-fashioned way”. An Old Fashioned in short. The wordl’s largest premium bourbon-brand, Woodford Reserve has taken up the initiative to celebrate this cocktail a week long, each year in November.
So, what’s happening then?
As mentioned earlier, over 60 bars across The Netherlands are participating in this week. With that, they are serving their twist on the Old Fashioned next to the original cocktail, all made with Woodford Reserve. Nearly 50 of these bars are located in Amsterdam, so it’s basically every bar that serves cocktails. In Rotterdam you can find these special Old Fashioneds in 6 bars, the rest you can find in The Hague, Haarlem, Groningen, Utrecht, Zwolle, Maastricht and Venlo. A full list of bars can be found here. Next to that you can also enjoy a few special events around town, where bars from other countries have been invited to show their skills.
On Tuesday November 12th you can find the barteam of Danico Paris, ranked #49 on the list of World’s 50 Best Bars in our very own Sins of Sal, the intimate bar in De Jordaan where you live your guilty pleasures. On Wednesday the 13th you can find Baba Au Rum, #17 on the list of 50 Best Bars in Lotti’s. On Sunday the 17th, to close the whole thing in style, you can enjoy your Old Fashioned’s in Pulitzer’s Bar where the team of Paradiso, Barcelona takes over the bar. This bar is currently ranked #10 on World’s 50 Best Bars and is the former #1 on this list. Pardiso is also the current #7 on the list of the 500 World’s Most Influential Bars. Alright, enough numbers for now, just go and enjoy that Old Fashioned!
Spectacle for the Senses
The experience of a cocktail is about much more than just the taste of the sip you take. During Old Fashioned Week, and until the end of 2024, Woodford Reserve Bourbon will stimulate all the senses. Together with Restaurant Bellezza and Groovy Fluids Lab, Woodford Reserve Bourbon created the ‘Spectacle for the Senses’ menu that reflects a different sense with each course, and a paired cocktail.
‘Sound’ comes as a course with an amuse full of crispy textures. The ‘Smell’ course is a smoky BBQ flat-iron steak with smoked mousseline and a Manhattan with rose petal-infused Woodford Reserve Rye and a plum vermouth. And for the ‘Taste’ course, there is soft hamachi on the plate with green curry mousse and fresh apple and ginger and in the glass a fresh and sparkling cocktail with Woodford Reserve Bourbon and lemongrass.
Restaurant Bellezza turns every dinner into an edible exhibition with audio, video and flavours. Chef Davy van Wezel’s dishes are served at a communal table in the hall of mirrors, where the space changes with the courses. Artist CHAN developed an audiovisual artwork for each dish. In her third exhibition for Bellezza, she wanders in a fairytale style along all the senses.
Cocktailwalk
This year you also have the possibility to visit 3 bars in Rotterdam and Amsterdam. With the WOGO Cocktailwalk you stroll from Old Fashioned to Old Fashioned with a walk that goes past Belly of the Beast, Duke of Tokyo and Arca. Or in Rotterdam along The Rumah via Botanero and to Duke of Tokyo. Or in Rotterdam along The Rumah via Botanero and to Duke of Tokyo. Tickets for the walk are limited and can be booked now via wogococktailwalk.com.
