Make Mine Manhattan

 The Manhattan...

"...it’s a cocktail that requires a whole host of decisions. Rye or bourbon? Perfect (composed with equal measures of sweet and dry vermouth), or just sweet vermouth? Bitters? Garnish? Rocks? My advice is to try the Manhattan every which way (just not all at once), because different versions suit different moods. 

According to legend, the Manhattan was created some 140 years ago, at New York City’s Manhattan Club, for a banquet held by Jennie Jerome, Winston Churchill’s Brooklyn-born mother. This tale has been debunked, but I still like to think it’s true, for the strong sense of time and place it suggests."

Read on for more about the Manhattan. 

{Photo credit: Sarn Kaplan, NYT}

And here are two of the best recipes found in New York:

Clover Club's The Southern Slope

Ingredients

• 2 oz. Basil Hayden’s bourbon
• 3/4 oz. Punt e Mes Italian vermouth
• 1/2 oz. Apricot liqueur
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• 1 Luxardo cherry.

Preparation

1. Stir over ice and strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice. Garnish: Luxardo cherry.

 

Moo's Manhattan

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 oz. Old Overholt rye whiskey
• 1/2 oz. Martini & Rossi sweet vermouth
• 1/2 oz. Carpano Antica Formula
• 3 dashes Angostura bitters
• 1 1-by-3-inch slice lemon peel
• 1 brandied cherry.

Preparation

1. Pour wet ingredients into a mixing glass. Add ice and stir for 30 seconds. Add another dash of Angostura to a chilled coupe. Twist the lemon and orange peels directly over the coupe. Vigorously rub the peels inside the coupe, then discard them. Add 1 brandied cherry. Strain the liquid into the prepared glass.