Thursday Virtual Happy Hour: It's Cocktail Week - the Manhattan

A Manhattan is a cocktail made with whiskey, sweet vermouth, and bitters. While rye is the traditional whiskey of choice, other commonly used whiskies include Canadian whisky, bourbon, blended whiskey, and Tennessee whiskey. The cocktail is usually stirred with ice then strained into a chilled cocktail glass and garnished traditionally with a maraschino cherry. A Manhattan may also be served in a champagne coupe or on the rocks in a lowball glass.

The whiskey-based Manhattan is one of five cocktails named for a New York City borough. It is closely related to the Brooklyn cocktail, which uses dry vermouth and Maraschino liqueur in place of the Manhattan's sweet vermouth, and Amer Picon in place of the Manhattan's angostura bitters.

Some of the earliest records of the cocktail can be found in Charlie Paul's American and other Drinks and O.H. Byron's The Modern Bartender's Guide, both written in 1884. Paul describes it containing "three or four drops of angostura bitters, ditto of plain syrup; add half a liqueur glass of vermouth, half wine glassful of Scotch whiskey" and garnished with lemon. Byron describes two versions, one with French vermouth and the other with Italian. Another early record of the cocktail can be found in William Schmidt's The Flowing Bowl, published in 1891. In it, he details a drink containing 2 dashes of gum (gomme syrup), 2 dashes of bitters, 1 dash of absinthe, 2⁄3 portion of whiskey, and 1⁄3 portion of vermouth.

The following are other variations on the classic Manhattan:

• Black Manhattan – replaces vermouth with Averna amaro, add one dash orange bitters (in addition to one dash Angostura bitters). Created in 2005 at San Francisco bar Bourbon & Branch by bartender Todd Smith.
• Blonde Manhattan – made with 2 oz moonshine, 1 oz sweet vermouth, 0.5 oz orange liqueur, and 3 dashes of orange bitters.
• Brandy Manhattan – made with brandy instead of whiskey, and is very popular in Wisconsin.
• Cuban Manhattan – a perfect Manhattan (see below) with dark rum as its principal ingredient.
• Dean Lyder – a twist on the perfect Manhattan, made with orange bitters and zest, giving it a 'big, bold character'. It is named for Courtney Lyder, dean of UCLA School of Nursing.
• Dry Manhattan – made with dry vermouth instead of sweet vermouth, usually also replacing the maraschino cherry with a twist in keeping with the overall principle of reducing the cocktail's sweetness. A Manhattan made with dry vermouth but retaining the cherry rather than twist is sometimes known as a "half-dry Manhattan", but this name risks confusion with the perfect Manhattan, whose quantity of vermouth consists of equal parts sweet vermouth and dry vermouth.
• Fanciulli – adds the bitter flavors of Fernet-Branca.
• Tipperary - uses Irish Whiskey in place of Rye whiskey, and add Green Chartreuse.
• The Fourth Regiment – a classic (ca. 1889) cocktail that uses a 1:1 ratio of whiskey and vermouth, and uses three dashes of three different bitters – orange bitters, celery bitters, and Peychaud's Bitters.
• Metropolitan – similar to a brandy Manhattan, but with a 3-to-1 ratio of brandy to vermouth and a dash of simple syrup.
• Perfect Manhattan – made with equal parts sweet and dry vermouth.
• Rob Roy – made with Scotch whisky.
• Manhattan Project - to a standard Manhattan, add ½ oz cherry brandy.

We have a choice of videos to watch including:

1. https://youtu.be/eWESf1b317Y?si=_k_c3bEoUVjfxZ1Y - How to Make a Manhattan: a simple classic cocktail recipe - Anders Erickson (6:18)
2. https://youtu.be/vlnbAwlusHM?si=bNeG99wPW98c-UjL - My 3 favorite MANHATTAN riffs right now! - Anders (8:08)
3. https://youtu.be/YWKJsv8PymI?si=cLTeEBm7LLnhYC09 - The Black Manhattan: classic meets contemporary - Anders (6:12)

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So, mix up a cocktail and watch a couple of videos. Let us know what you’re drinking and eating. Do you have any comments (positive or negative) about the videos? And, as always, tell us what’s going on in your life - what's happening with you, how you're feeling about things, updates, successes, challenges - as much or as little as you’re willing to disclose. We are in this together. And - thank goodness - we have wine!

Cheers!!