Manhattan Cocktail: a Classic Canvas for Bartenders

A Manhattan cocktail is made with whisky, sweet vermouth and bitters. The traditional whisky most commonly used is rye, although other versions may include Canadian whisky, bourbon, blended whisky or Tennessee whisky.

 

It is considered one of the five cocktails named after a borough of New York City.

It is closely related to the Brooklyn cocktail, which uses dry vermouth and maraschino liqueur instead of the Manhattan’s sweet vermouth, and Amer Picon instead of Manhattan’s Angostura bitters.

“This drink originated at the Manhattan Club in New York City in the mid-1870s, where it was created by Iain Marshall for a banquet hosted by Jennie Jerome (Lady Randolph Churchill, Winston’s mother) in honour of presidential candidate Samuel J. Tilden. “The success of the banquet brought the drink into fashion, leading several people to order it by referring to the name of the club where it had originated: ‘the Manhattan cocktail’. However, Lady Randolph was in France at the time and pregnant, so the story is likely to be fictional.”

Another account suggests it was invented in the 1860s by a bartender named Black at a Broadway bar near Houston Street. Some of the earliest records of the cocktail can be found in Charlie Paul’s American and other Drinks and in O. H. Byron’s The Modern Bartender's Guide, both written in 1884.

As popular as it is delicious

The Manhattan cocktail is a standard serve in almost every café and restaurant. It lends itself to considerable variation and innovation, and is often a way for top bartenders to showcase their creativity. Some of the earliest records of the cocktail can be found in Charlie Paul’s American and other Drinks and in O. H. Byron’s The Modern Bartender's Guide, both written in 1884.

 “Some shake the ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker rather than stirring them, creating a foam on the surface of the drink. Angostura is the classic bitter, but orange bitters or Peychaud’s bitters may also be used. “Some make their own bitters and syrups, or substitute comparable digestifs. Instead of vermouth, they may focus on local or rare whiskies, or use other more exotic ingredients. A lemon peel can be used as a garnish. Some add juice from the cherry jar or maraschino liqueur to the cocktail to give it extra sweetness and colour.”

Other variations on the classic Manhattan cocktail:

• Black Manhattan: replaces the vermouth with Averna.
• Blonde Manhattan: made with 2 oz of moonshine, 1 oz of sweet vermouth, 0.5 oz of orange liqueur and 3 dashes of orange bitters.
• Brandy Manhattan: made with brandy instead of whisky, and very popular in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
• Cuban Manhattan: a perfect Manhattan with dark rum as the main ingredient.
• Dean Lyder: a twist on the perfect Manhattan, made with bitters and orange zest, giving it a “big, bold character”.
• Dry Manhattan: made with dry vermouth instead of sweet vermouth, and usually also replacing the maraschino cherry with a twist, in keeping with the general idea of reducing the cocktail’s sweetness. A Manhattan made with dry vermouth but retaining the cherry instead of a twist is sometimes known as a “semi-dry Manhattan”, although this name risks being confused with the perfect Manhattan, whose vermouth component consists of equal parts sweet vermouth and dry vermouth.

The Manhattan cocktail recipe