- 5 cl Rye Whiskey
- 2 cl Red Vermouth
- 1 dash of Angostura Bitters
- Garnish with cocktail cherry.

Pour into mixing glass and stir. Strain into mixing glass.

-HAVE IT YOUR WAY-

- 5 cl Canadian Rye Whiskey (Rittenhouse, Sazerca, Old Overholt)
- 2 cl Red Vermouth or Dry Vermouth, depending on taste
- 1 dash of Angostura Bitters
- Garnish with cocktail cherry (brandied cherry or bust)

I specifically ask for a brandied cherry and if I really want to make sure I’m getting a proper Manhattan, I ask for a specific brand of Canadian rye whiskey. I will switch up to dry vermouth depending on whether or not I want something with a little more kick.

WHY I LIKE IT

I’m a big liquor fan, especially whiskey, so any mixed drinks that has whiskey is already a thumbs up in my book. The reason why this stands out because I drink this almost every time I go out during the winter — that warm, spicy feeling of the rye just works out in 10-20 degree weather (although the winter has been mild here).

I never get the Maraschino cherry (that unnaturally bright red cherry) because I have seen them being made and I will never ever have one of those cherries in my drink ever again as a result of that experience. That being said, I will have a brandied cherry because they’re just cherries that are soaked in brandy; I usually ask for this first, and if they don’t I ask the bartender to exclude it.

The one thing you or the bartender have to be careful about is the amount of sweet vermouth that goes into the drink. Not all sweet vermouths are the same – - some are sweeter than others. That is the difference between having a Manhattan and drinking something that tastes like Robotussin.

According to Wikipedia:

A popular history suggests that the drink originated at the Manhattan Club in New York City in the early 1870s, where it was invented by Dr. Iain Marshall for a banquet hosted by Jennie Jerome (Lady Randolph Churchill, Winston’s mother) in honor of presidential candidate Samuel J. Tilden. The success of the banquet made the drink fashionable, later prompting several people to request the drink by referring to the name of the club where it originated—”the Manhattan cocktail.”[5][6] However, Lady Randolph was in France at the time and pregnant, so the story is likely a fiction.[7] The original “Manhattan cocktail” was a mix of “American Whiskey, Italian Vermouth and Angostura bitters”.[8][9]


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Filed under: Cocktails • Recipes & Reviews

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