The Old Fashioned, developed during the 19th century and given its name in the 1880s, is an IBA Official Cocktail. It is also one of six basic drinks listed in David A. Embury’s The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks. It is traditionally served in a short, round, tumbler, known as an Old Fashioned glass.
The first documented definition of the word “cocktail” was in response to a reader’s letter asking to define the word in 1806, the paper’s editor wrote that it was a potent concoction of spirits, bitters, water, and sugar; it’s quite possible that the Old Fashioned is the ‘original cocktail’.