Rye Manhattan

Rye, sweet vermouth, three dashes Angostura, expressed orange. Sharper than a bourbon Manhattan and twice as honest about it.

Why you are pouring this tonight

The Rye Manhattan is the Manhattan that knows it is autumn. Same template as the bourbon version, same proportions, same theatrical orange peel at the end, but with rye in the base instead of bourbon and the whole drink develops a backbone the bourbon version pretends not to need. Rye carries pepper and clove and a little dry-bread quality that bourbon drinks straight through. Add three dashes of Angostura, two ounces of a proper sweet vermouth, and you have a drink that walks into a room like a man who has done his taxes early.

Use Rittenhouse Bottled-in-Bond if you can find it at Dan Murphy’s, Bulleit Rye if you cannot. For sweet vermouth, Dolin Rouge if your wallet is feeling polite, Carpano Antica if it is feeling expansive. Punt e Mes is the choice if you want the drink slightly grumpier, which is sometimes what Friday wants. The cherry at the bottom is non-negotiable. Use a real Luxardo Maraschino, the one in the dark glass jar with the syrup that stains a tea towel like a crime scene. The supermarket cocktail cherries that come in radioactive pink water are a different drink entirely and not one we are talking about.

Stir for thirty seconds over hard ice. Strain into a chilled coupe. Express the peel over the surface of the drink and drop it in. The drink should be cold enough that the glass complains.

What to pour it alongside

Aged hard cheese, prosciutto, marinated olives, before any meat-heavy dinner with a bit of structure to it. The rye cuts through fat the way a sharp question cuts through a long meeting. Pair before a slow-roast lamb, before a steak, before the kind of pasta that uses three cheeses. Avoid before fish; the drink will eat the fish.

Rittenhouse Rye Bottled-in-Bond

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Dolin Rouge Sweet Vermouth

Dolin Rouge is the lighter, more alpine cousin of Carpano Antica. Made in Chambery with mountain herbs, wormwood, and a gentler sweetness, it gives you a Negroni or…

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Cocktail

The Perfect Manhattan

Use half sweet vermouth and half dry vermouth instead of all sweet. Why you are pouring this tonight The Perfect Manhattan is the Manhattan that has had a…

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Notes from the kitchen

Stir, never shake. Shaking a Manhattan is the cocktail equivalent of yelling at the dog for asking a fair question. The drink wants clarity, dilution and chill, in that order. Use the biggest, hardest ice you have. Cubes from the freezer tray that have been sitting in there since you moved in are not ice; they are old frozen tap water that will turn your drink into a watery rumour. Make fresh ice that morning. Fill the mixing glass to the top. Stir for a full thirty seconds and you will land in the right zone. Express the orange peel skin-side down over the glass so the oils land on the surface, then run the peel around the rim before dropping it in.

Two things that go wrong

Drink is hot and watery

Not enough ice, or your ice was old. Cocktails want fresh ice, hard ice, lots of it. Stir longer with more ice, not less ice for less time.

Cherry tastes like cough syrup

You used the cocktail cherries in radioactive pink water. Replace them with Luxardo. It costs $25 a jar and lasts six months and changes every drink you make.

Variations worth knowing

Leftovers and make ahead

Make the batch in advance. Two ounces rye, one ounce vermouth, six dashes Angostura per drink, scaled up. Bottle in a clean glass bottle, label it, keep in the fridge. Pour over ice into a stirring glass, stir for ten seconds to chill, strain. Holds two weeks in the fridge. The orange peel goes on at service, never in the bottle, or it turns the whole batch into citrus oil soup.

The recipe