The Martini Bar bartender may need a refresher course on how to make an old fashioned. My husband ordered one and I knew immediately it was the wrong color. I am a bartender as well but I hate when other bartenders try and tell me how to make a drink so I kept silent and tried a sip of his drink. It tasted like soda water. No recipe for an old fashioned requires soda water. I told the bartender his drink didn't taste good and he got all defensive and said he has been making these for "100 years" and asked if there was some "new way of making these now or something." I wasn't questioning his bartending skills or being rude... I just wanted to let him know it didn't taste good. Rule of thumb to this fellow bartender... maybe try tasting your own drinks before you sell them. If you won't drink it... then I certainly won't either. By the way... here is the most common recipe for an old fashioned I could find just in case...
The Old Fashioned is a cocktail made by muddling sugar with bitters, then adding alcohol, such as whiskey or brandy, and a twist of citrus rind.