Mike's Mix: The Biggest Old Fashioned In Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- If you did not attend one of the big parties this week, there is another chance -- and both the price and the location are right.
It's free to get in, and it's two blocks from U.S. Bank Stadium.
The folks at Grumpy's Bar on Washington Avenue in downtown Minneapolis have teamed up with Jim Beam to make a 53-gallon Old Fashioned for the Super Bowl.
"We're going to make Minnesota's largest-ever-made Old Fashioned," said Jake Jungbauer, Minnesota representative of Beam Suntory. "Never been done before."
Here in the North, we just do things a little bigger, a little bolder and a little colder than the rest of the country.
You've seen it across the Twin Cities this week, and this weekend, you be a little bold, and do a little good, at Grumpy's.
"We partnered with the charity Gold Star Rides. All the proceeds will go to Gold Star Rides," Jungbauer said. "You can come down and purchase a cocktail for $7.25. Also, we'll be passing out samples periodically throughout the weekend."
Gold Star Rides uses motorcycles to help heal the invisible wounds that Gold Star families experience after a loss.
It's one of the many ways Minnesotans show how big and bold their hearts are.
"Everything's bigger in Minnesota, and so I had to come up here to pour a little Old Fashioned for the Super Bowl," said Adam Harris, Beam Suntory's American Whiskey Ambassador.
Harris is in town to help. It's his job to travel the country and talk about Jim Beam.
"We have our Jim Beam White Label here, which is a four-year-old Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey, using our traditional Jim Beam bourbon mash bill down in Kentucky, where our distillery is in Clairmont," Harris said. "And we'll be making a traditional, you know, kind of supper club Old Fashioned recipe."
When it comes to whiskey Old Fashioneds versus brandy Old Fashioneds, the battle lines are drawn along state lines. So, what do these guy say to the Wisconsin brandy Old-Fashioned camp?
"You're doing it wrong!" Harris said.
To Harris, there is one way to do it right.
"With our bitters, sugar, some citrus with the oranges of course, and then we'll add some cherry and some water for dilution," Harris said. "And, of course, 52 half-gallons of Jim Beam White Label to make over 2,200 drinks … Just going be lifting a couple of hundred pounds of bourbon and pour it into a cocktail!"
After the first ceremonial half gallon of bourbon, the rest of us went to work.
With teamwork and a little stir, this Old Fashioned is ready for you to enjoy.
"Just come down to Grumpy's on Sunday, open to the public, be a part of history, Minnesota history, by trying it, and all proceeds will benefit Gold Star Rides, which is a great local charity," Jungbauer said.
Will Eagles fans get served?
"We will, but we're going to throw it at them," Jungbauer said.
