This is the classic version of an Old Fashioned cocktail from before the prohibition era. In later versions orange wedges and a cherry were added to the drink.

Setting up the reference for this painting was quite challenging. Photographers would normally use acrylic ice cubes and food coloring and all sorts of other gimmicks when creating pictures of beverages. This, however is the real thing. The problem with that was that I had about a 20sec window after pouring the drink to take my reference picture. After that the glass would mist up with water droplets forming all over, which I didn’t want because they obstructed the view into the inside of the glass. I also wanted to show the drink in its state right after it had been prepared. The ice cube is hand carved and sculpted to lie at this angle. Together with some air bubbles and cracks this looks more interesting than an upright and completely clear cube.