The Manhattan

The Churchill Manhattan

“Where can I get a good Manhattan?”

This is the question that started it all….

A few months back this question was posed to me by a tourist, while we were both saddled up to the bar at a local downtown haunt one Sunday evening. The drink just placed in front of him was a watery mess of equal parts Jim Beam and hospice ready generic sweet vermouth (fruit flies carefully strained, we observed) that was shaken hard against it’s own will. I swear you could hear the bourbon cursing it’s untimely demise with each crash into the bottom of the oft neglected Cobbler shaker. Two geriatric cherries and a healthy splash of cheap maraschino juice topped off this nasty excuse.

(Now, I need to preface that this was not the kind of bar one would expect to get a quality classic libation, it came in a plastic dixie cup for god’s sake, but to go there for a Boilermaker? I wouldn’t hesitate….)

The stranger and I sized up the drink quickly before he uttered that fateful question.

“Where can I get a good Manhattan?”

How ’bout we make our own, buddy?

Many stories claim to describe the true origin of the Manhattan. A popular story is one about a party hosted by Winston Churchill’s mother celebrating Samual Tilden’s New York Gubernatorial election in 1874. The soiree was held at the infamous Manhattan Club. Although many reports lead me to believe the original Manhattan was created much earlier, I leave that to the historians to battle over for now.

Maybe later we can start a History forum, but for now, I’m thirsty…

Here’s how we do it at Salud!

The Churchill Manhattan

2 0z Knob Creek Bourbon

1 oz Rittenhouse 100proof Rye

3/4 Carpano Antica Vermouth

2 dashes Fee’s Bros. Old Fashioned Bitters

2 dashes Orange Bitters*

Garnish with a Brandied Cherry*

Combine Rye, Vermouth and bitters over ice in a tumbler and stir them for 30 seconds (you don’t want to water down your drink with a tepid WAPA flavor, do you? In fact ICE is a huge factor in making a quality libation. Cheap fragile bagged ice breaks down too quickly and comes from less than desirable sources. I suggest you use bottled drinking water and good sturdy ice cube trays to make all your cocktail ice)

Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a brandied cherry…

Sláinte!

*Recipes to make your own Orange bitters and Brandied Cherries coming soon!