• 60mL rye
• 30mL sweet red vermouth
• 2-3 dashes bitters

Stir that in a mixing glass with ice until very cold. Serve in coupe or other glassware of choice. Garnish with a Luxardo cherry.

I’ve decided that I will post the recipes for cocktails at the top of my blog posts. That way, if for some reason you’ve found your way here looking for a cocktail recipe, it’s right there. You don’t have to scroll past a wall of philosophical, rambly bullshit to get to the recipe. I’ll put my philosophical, rambly bullshit after the recipe thank-you-very-much.

There it is. The manhattan cocktail: a beverage of legend and song. It’s origins are shrouded in a boozy haze of history, and it stands in its simplicity as one of the best cocktails out there, in my humble-until-drunk opinion.

OK. So it’s history is perhaps not as hazy as I’ve made it out to be. Still, the details of its origins are much discussed. There is some historical evidence to set the record straight… but ah hell, I’m not an expert on this. You should go read The Manhattan: The Story of the First Modern Cocktail by Philip Greene. Filled with all sorts of titillating bits of history, it’s a book that thrills. But I recommend that you read it in reverse. Start at the back. Pick a recipe. Make yourself a drink. And then settle in to read some delicious cocktail history.

But I digress.

This is my fundamental go-to drink. New bar? Try their manhattan. Decisions are hard and I can’t pick a drink? Have a manhattan. Long day? Time for a manhatttan. You get the point.

There are many variations, of course. Some are improved; some are only so-called improved. But it’s a great base recipe to modify, tweak, adjust, and otherwise mess around with. There’s no end of room for experimentation! I will have much to say on variations at a later time. For now, though, I will focus on the classic recipe.

Part of the greatness of this beverage are the many pairings of rye¹Or bourbon if you must. But you’d be wrong. and vermouth and bitters. I love that it is so simple, and yet infinite in its possible expressions. A manhattan made with Bulleit and Dolin will be very different than a manhattan made with Rittenhouse and Carpano Antica, for example. It’s delightful! So many possibilities…

The bitters themselves should get lost in the drink and yet be missed when absent. They add not so much a direct flavor, but that je ne sais quoi that brings the whole drink together.

To garnish, an orange peel is certainly quite nice. As are many other choices. My favorite remains the simple Luxardo maraschino cherry (the real maraschino cherry — not one of those neon red megagrocery monstrosities).

And lastly, you have your choice of glassware. A coupe is the go-to for an up cocktail. A simple martini glass will also suffice quite nicely. For a little extra touch of elegance however, I prefer a nicely sloped Nick and Nora glass (so named for one of my favorite cinematic couples — a topic worthy of at least its own post at a later date).

And there you have it! Drink up!

And if I may ask, why are you still reading the rambles of this fool? The recipe is at the top. Go! Drink!