Popular legend has it that Winston Churchill's mother invented the Manhattan cocktail in honor of Samuel Tilden, presidential candidate and controversial figure, when he was feted at the Manhattan Club. While historians refute this, insisting the Manhattan existed prior to Lady Churchill, there's no doubt that this whiskey drink is an oldie but a goody.
A 1934 copy of "Cocktail Bill Boothby's World Drinks and How to Mix Them" has eight variations of the Manhattan, including recipes with absinthe, cointreau and curacoa. The common theme among all the recipes out there, though, is the three essential ingredients: whiskey, bitters, vermouth.
Whiskey
Three types of whiskey are made in the U.S.-corn, rye and bourbon. Bourbon got its name from a Kentucky county and was originally only the purest corn whiskey, but the name bourbon has since applied to all three types.
Bourbon gets its flavor from corn mixed with rye, wheat, oats and barley, and the whiskey is made either by the sweet-mash method or the sour-mash method. Sour-mash whiskey is heavier and richer, and has a longer aging process. Whiskey is generally aged in charred oak casks and takes four or more years before it's ready.
The three most popular imported whiskies are Scotch, Irish and Canadian. Made of malted barley, Scotch is the most popular of the three for its distinct taste.
Sweet Vermouth
Vermouth has been made since early civilization. Simply put, it's wine spruced up with spices and herbs. One of the additives in the drink is wormwood, famously used in the making of absinthe. Wormwood is a woody shrub, and has a bitter taste to it.
There's sweet vermouth, which is red; white vermouth, which is similar to the red; and dry (unsweet) vermouth, generally used in martinis.
Bitters
This spirit rose to fame in the late 1800s, with the taxation of liquor. Bitters was sold for medicinal purposes to avoid those taxes. Bitters is alcohol flavored with plants, and at the time they were touted as a cure for ailments largely stomach- and digestion-related. According to Digger Odell Publications, the government began cracking down on the questionable medicine in 1906. Today, the small trademark bottles can generally be found at any grocery store or liquor store under a variety of brands, and one or two dashes of bitters packs a powerful punch of flavor in a cocktail.
Classic Manhattan Cocktail
Ingredients:
- ¾ ounces sweet vermouth
- 1 ½ ounces bourbon
- 1 dash bitters
- 1 cherry
Directions:
- Combine ingredients, and stir well with cracked ice.
- Strain into a cocktail glass.
- Drop in a cherry.
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