Science Of Drink

Today I want to toy with one of three classic variations of the Manhattan – the Perfect Manhattan. As we know, the Manhattan Cocktail has three well-known varieties – the Sweet Manhattan (basically a Manhattan. Actually, nobody names the Manhattan as the ‘Sweet’ Manhattan), the Dry Manhattan (with dry vermouth instead of sweet one) and the Perfect Manhattan. The pivotal point of the Perfect Manhattan lies in using an equal proportion of both vermouths instead of sweet vermouth. Incidentally, the name of the Perfect Manhattan seems open for debating and your approving depends upon preferable sweetness of the Manhattan.

I have paid attention to today’s first cocktail at Cheri Loughlin’s Blog – The Intoxicologist. The concept of the Rat Pack Manhattan is to improve the Manhattan with a help of the legendary French liqueur – Grand Marnier. It sounds quite interesting. In average Ukrainian conditions we have only two or, well, three cut-and-dried vermouths for the regular mixing. Thus an idea to support my regular Cinzano with one of my favorite aged liqueurs attracted me at first sight. It had made my mouth water and I went to surf (unfortunately, Cheri’s recipe is quite inaccurate, she avoids bitters, but as we know, the Manhattan always contains bitters). The appropriate recipe was founded at the diffordsguide.

The Rat Pack Manhattan sounds not quite delicious (or, frankly speaking, absolutely inedible). But really, rats have nothing to do with the Rat Pack Manhattan. Actually the Rat Pack was a group of American movie stars originally centered on Humphrey Bogart. The Rat Pack existed since 1950-s and in different time included among the partakers a number of famous actors and singers – Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop. After the Bogart’s death the leader of the Rat Pack was Frank Sinatra (who was a notorious Dry Manhattan lover, by the way).

The Rat Pack Manhattan was created in 2000 by Wayne Collins at High Holborn, London, England. Forsooth all members of Rat Pack (apart from Joey Bishop) were dead by that time. Probably Wayne liked the Rat Pack and named the cocktail after it. As Simon Difford supposes, originally Wayne used different whiskies to represent each of the Rat Pack crooners. The wash of Grand Marnier was for Sammy Davis, the wild card of the bunch.

The Rat Pack Manhattan is a Perfect Manhattan with a little French twist.

Rat Pack Manhattan

15 ml Grand Marnier (for washing)
45 ml bourbon
20 ml vermouth sweet
20 ml vermouth dry
3 dash Angostura bitters
Coat a chilled cocktail glass with the liqueur and discard. Stir whiskey, vermouths and bitters with a lot of ice. Strain into the prepared glass and garnish with an orange twist and a maraschino cherry.

Admittedly, I should say that it is simply the Perfect Manhattan with bourbon. The minor savor of an orange is barely noticeable. Thus it is so restrained variation of the Manhattan. Perfect. In a true English style, you know.

More recently I decided to taste another Manhattan-like cocktail with Grand Marnier liqueur – the Boulevard (pretty often called as the Boulevard Manhattan). Actually the Boulevard Cocktail is rather similar to the Perfect Manhattan with Grand Marnier instead of sweet vermouth.

I have found a recipe of the Boulevard Cocktail at the diffordsguide also. As Simon supposes the Boulevard is an old classic cocktail with an unclear origin.

Boulevard (aka Boulevard Manhattan)

50 ml bourbon
25 ml dry vermouth
10 ml Grand Marnier
1 dash orange bitters
Stir all ingredients with a lot of ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a twist of an orange peel (discarded) and two maraschino cherries.

Crikey! The Boulevard is indeed a stunning cocktail! It’s like a harmonious jazz band of well-coordinated jazz stars. All ingredients – the whiskey, the vermouth, the liqueur and the bitters – play a perceptible role. The Boulevard Cocktail is a perfect citrus Manhattan. One of the most interesting things is an amazing play of two well-aged spirits – Grand Marnier and Makers Mark bourbon. The liqueur adds more noble notes of ageing to the bourbon. The notes of vanilla, candied fruits, especially orange, orange cake prevail in the nose and palate of the cocktail. The main palate of the cocktail is slightly dry with a lot of warm sweet savors. Undoubtedly, the Boulevard is an amazing cocktail though isn’t a Manhattan. The herbal part of the taste is so simple and too light as for the true Manhattan.

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Sorry, but this post is not available in English. But coming soon!

Now, we have a third S.I.P. – an exciting on-line event for Russian-speaking blogers-imbibers. If you are following my blog, you may know what the S.I.P. is something like a Russian-speaking MxMo. Previous two S.I.P. kindled the Russian-speaking mixosphere and gave rise to some new blogs. So we will see who will delurk at the today’s event!

The main topic of the S.I.P. is the Manhattan. That’s a coincidence! Actually, I have had the Manhattan time during the last two months. The Manhattan is my passion. No, I should define it more precisely, the Manhattan is my challenge. No other cocktail exhilarates me more than the Manhattan. The Manhattan is an absolutely magnificent cocktail with its own story, its unique composition and look.

A popular story about the creation of the Manhattan Cocktail tells that the Manhattan was created in 1874 by a Dr. Iain Marshall for a banquet hosted by Lady Randolph Churchill (born Jeanette Jerome, a daughter of a notorious New York’s tycoon Leonard Jerome), the mother of one of the most outstanding Brits. The banquet was organized at the Manhattan Club in honor of an electoral victory of Samuel J. Tilden – the Governor of New-York, a famous politician and a Leonard’s old friend. The cocktail was named after his birth-place.

Actually, I think, that Jeanette Jerome – a noted beauty and a member of New-York’s high society – was worthy to be a godmother of the Manhattan. But some notorious facts destroy the story. As a matter of fact, the banquet took place at the Manhattan Club, New-York, USA, on December 29, 1874. A very curious detail: as we know Sir Winston Churchill was born on November 30, 1874, prematurely, at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, England. In the second half of the XIX century there was only one way to cross the Atlantic – by boat and the voyage normally took about two weeks! It seems improbable for a woman, who just has given birth, to travel a distance of about 3000 miles and organize the banquet.

On the other hand, cocktail historian William Grimes specifies that Manhattan Club’s records indicate that the drink was invented there, but without noting of a precise date. He suggests that the banquet only popularized the Manhattan.

Thus, the New-York’s origin of the Manhattan Cocktail is absolutely specified. In fact, as some competent people say, New-York was a rye-drinking city in the XIX century. So, American rye whiskey is an authentic type of whiskey for the Manhattan. Both bourbon and brandy came in after the Manhattan gained popularity in some other states. But then Prohibition turned everything upside down, all was changed. During Prohibition, whiskey as well as other kinds of liquor was not produced. American whiskey was dead. But Manhattan was not. The Manhattan Cocktail obtained new fresh blood – the Canadian whisky. Actually, Canadian whisky, also called Canadian Rye Whisky, is quite a different type of whiskey. It has different maturing and blending methods but it makes use of similar to American whiskies raw materials – corn, rye, barley etc. Legal European bartenders and, of course, illegal bartenders of American speakeasies had a practice of using Canadian Rye in the Manhattan during the Prohibition. And it was then, I think, Canadian Rye Whisky became a third proper type of whiskey for the Manhattan.

Well, we know that the Manhattan is a truly American cocktail which consists of whiskey, vermouth and cocktail bitters. The Manhattan has three standard executions – properly speaking, the Manhattan (‘Sweet’ Manhattan), the Dry Manhattan (with dry vermouth instead of sweet vermouth) and the Perfect Manhattan (with both sweet and dry vermouths in it).

It seems toIt seems so simple. But actually the Manhattan has a great shade – potential which lies in using three pretty different types (-sic! Not trademarks, but three different types!) of whiskey. Vermouth also boasts a rich variety. And a range of cocktail bitters is unbelievably wide. It all makes a Manhattan quite a diverse cocktail though within a standard variation. Now I decide to devote the entry to my favorite recipes of three typical variations of the Manhattan. I am exploring each of these over and over again. The recipes below reflect my today’s vision of the Manhattan.

Manhattan

50 ml rye whiskey or bourbon
25 ml sweet vermouth
1 dash Angostura bitter
Stir all ingredients in a mixer glass filled with ice cubes. Strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with a red cocktail cherry.

Actually I prefer to use Canadian Whisky in my Manhattan. If I am in proper mood I use smooth and not very spicy bourbon. I regret to confess that I have only one bottle of American rye and do not use it in my Manhattans. Why? Because WILD TURKEY Rye 101 proof is an extremely powerful spirit and it easily kills my ordinary vermouths in the Manhattan. That result is categorically unsuitable for me. My Manhattan is about vermouth, not whiskey. The Manhattan, I am concerned with , is not the Old-Fashioned one . The idea of the Manhattan lies in pairing vermouth and whiskey and not in making whiskey easy to swallow.

My average Manhattan is a well-balanced, smooth and little spicy potation with some velvet bitterness. Properly made it is quite a libation.

My next Manhattan is the Dry Manhattan. When I say ‘dry’, it must be dry. I mean, a standard 2:1 version with dry vermouth instead of sweet is not dry enough for my palate. Therefore I use Embury’s proportions (5 : 1) for the Dry Manhattan:

Dry Manhattan

70 ml bourbon
14 ml dry vermouth
1 generous dash orange bitters
Stir all ingredients in a mixing-glass with a lot of ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Another important point is using orange bitters instead of Angostura for a great dry taste. I prefer using light bourbon like Four Roses in my Dry Manhattan.

My Dry Manhattan is a pretty dry cocktail. Not fabulous but dry enough. Both bitters and essential oils of lemon peel help drying the cocktail. The entry is dry with a hint of bourbon sweetness, the palate is dry and herbal, and the finish is complex with prevailing bitterness of citruses. My average Dry Manhattan is a well-balanced, dry and moderate cocktail.

Well, and now some words about the Perfect Manhattan. The next recipe I have borrowed from the one of my favorite cocktail book ‘Cocktails and Mixed Drinks’ by Anthony Hogg.

Perfect Manhattan

40 ml straight rye whiskey or Canadian rye whisky
20 ml dry vermouth
20 ml sweet vermouth
1 dash Angostura bitter
Stir all ingredients with a lot ice in a mixer glass. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry and lemon peel.

Basically, the perfection of the cocktail lies in equal ratio between whisky and vermouths not in equal ratio between vermouths. My Perfect Manhattan is a herbalicious, well-balanced cocktail with moderate spiciness. Actually the balance of it is quite close to my average Manhattan. It is the golden mean of Manhattans. By the way I often prefer the Perfect Manhattan with Peychaud’s bitters instead of Angostura. It gives yet another kind of bitterness, you know.

Finally let me make a short brief:

1. Rye you must. But Canadian whisky works quite well too.

2. Good vermouth makes a good Manhattan. A crap makes a crap. Cinzano works.

3. No Manhattan without bitters. But I mean bitters in quite a wide sense. Palatable bitters sometimes work as good as cocktail bitters, but the Angostura is that will do.

4. Do not shake the Manhattan, it will bruise an excellence.

5. Garbage in, garbage out. And, one drop of poison infects the whole tun of wine. There is no place for any drop of chemical cherry juice in the Manhattan. So, macerate your own cocktail cherries or wash well commercial cherries for garnishing good Manhattans.

6. It seems ’so bitter’ for you? Leave it and leave me alone!

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My new passion is Manhattan. Manhattan is old and classic cocktail with american whiskey (bourbon or rye), sweet vermouth and cocktail bitters. One of the key ingredient of the good Manhattan is vermouth. Unfortunately we have very pour range of vermouth in Ukraine now. There are available Martini, Cinzano and somewhere Gancia. But we have another way to vary our Manhattan expirience – to use Dubonnet instead vermouth in this magnificient cocktail.

The vermouth is fortified wine vwith aromatic plant extract. Dubonnet is fortified sweet wine with hint of quinquina. It is so similar stuff.

The first recipe of Dubonnet Manhattan was founded at CocktailDB. It is so similar to Dubonnet Cocktail with whiskey instead gin.

Dubonnet Manhattan

35 ml bourbon or rye whiskey
35 ml Dubonnet Rouge
Stir in mixing glass with ice and strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.

First I try this cocktail with bourbon whiskey. I use Maker’s Mark handcrafted bourbon.

The Dubonnet Manhattan Cocktail is realy very good. This cocktail has very interesting taste with sweet muscat entry with a lot of fresh grapes and fruits, so sweet and smooth palate and great bourbon finish. I try this cocktail with canadian whisky also. The result is quite different. The main palate is sweet wine with a hint of whisky. But both of this cocktails are not Manhattan, actually.

Another recipe of Dubonnet Manhattan I found at the great Intoxicologist’s post Make Mine a Manhattan Holiday. This cocktail contain some dry vermouth for good balance.

Dubonnet Manhattan #2

50 ml bourbon
20 ml Dubonnet Rouge
7 ml vermouth dry
3 dash Angostura bitters
Stir in mixing glass with ice and strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon twist and cocktail cherry.

Actually this recipe is promo for Evan Williams bourbon and american Dubonnet (both crafted by Heaven Hill). I use Four Roses bourbon and french Dubonnet Rouge. Also I use only 1 my big dash of Angostura for good balance.

The cocktail is excellent! It is very good Manhattan recipe. Dubonnet Rouge and Martini Extra Dry work very well together. The result is great sweet “vermouth” taste. The Dubonnet Manhattan #2 has smooth very good balanced and round piquant taste with main bourbon palate. It is admirable Manhattan!

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The cocktail that I want to explore today I like for a long time. The recipe of this cocktail was at my blog some times ago. Actually the American Beauty Cocktail is in my Special Reserve. This flowery and extraordinary cocktail is one of the best choices for novice – it is not so strong, have interesting sweet taste and it has great look. This drink is great thing to look at as well as to sip.

The story of American Beauty Cocktail is forgotten. It is known that name of this drink connected with popular sort of the garden rose. American Beauty roses was best-selling roses from 1888 to 1920. The creator of this drink is unknown. Supposedly this cocktail was first mentioned in first edition of The Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddock.

My first American Beauty Cocktail I mixed with recipe was found at the CocktailDB. Now I taste this cocktail with authentic cognac and real Porto.

American Beauty

15 ml brandy
15 ml vermouth dry
15 ml fresh orange juice
15 ml grenadine
1 dash creme de menthe white
30 ml Port wine
Shake all ingredients except port with a lot of ice. Strain into cocktail glass and top with port wine.

The cognac in this cocktail is needless. The delicate flavor and taste of the cognac is invisible in this sweet and fruity drink. I prefer to use in this cocktail something powerful and complete brandy like young (about 5 years old) armenian brandy.

The American Beauty Cocktail in old proportions has sweet and fruity taste with little mint pleasure notes in the finish. The cocktail scent of port wine. With every sip you have both layer of the drink – the a luttle bit tart and sweet port and sweet and fruity mix – it is great feeling.

If you do not like so sweet old version you may taste the modern version of this rare cocktail. This recipe I found in the one of my favorite cocktail book – The Essential Cocktail by Dale DeGroff.

American Beauty Cocktail (DeGroff’s version)

20 ml brandy
20 ml vermouth dry
20 ml fresh orange juice
2 dashes grenadine
2 dashes simple syrup
1 dash of creme de menthe green
15 ml ruby port
Shake all ingredients except brandy in a ice-filled shaker. Strain into cocktail glass and float the port on top. Garnish with rose petal (organically grown or well washed).

Actually for old-style two layer look you must use a little bit more of grenadine. I use about teaspoonful of grenadine otherwise port wine do not make a separate layer.

This drink is perfectly balanced. It is not so sweet as old version. This cocktail has sweet taste with great brandy and vermouth palate with a hint of mint in the finish. It is admirable, amazing drink!

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The subject of MxMo LII is extremely clear and so close to me. The subject is Forgotten Cocktail. The author of this perfect theme and host of MxMo LII is Dennis from Rock & Rye blog. Actually exploring of forgotten cocktails are the very core of my hobby and a lot of cocktails at my blog is rare, classic or forgotten. For this MxMo I propose to recall one rare, vintage cocktail – The Jupiter Cocktail.

I thank Ted Haigh aka Dr. Cocktail for my familiarity with Jupiter Cocktail. I found it at CocktailDB first time and recall it with Tad’s great book Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails over again.

The creator of this cocktail and its story are unknown. The Jupiter Cocktail was first mentioned in Harry McElhon’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails (1922). This cocktail is so rare occasion to use on of my favotite liqueur – Parfait Amour.

Jupiter Cocktail

45 ml gin
20 ml dry vermouth
5 ml Parfait Amor liqueur
5 ml fresh orange juice
Shake. Strain into cocktail glass.

The properly prepared Jupiter Cocktail has interesting light grey ashes color. This cocktail has thin balance. I test all of my three liqueurs in this cocktail. Use quality gin, as Bombay Sapphire for example, in this cocktail for best result.

The Jupiter Cocktail with DK Parfait Amour has so strange artificial pink color. It is vital defect as for me. The taste is so interesring, it is so dry cocktail with vanilla and floral finish. Cocktails with BOLS Parfait Amour and MB Parfait Amour has great due look. The cocktail with BOLS is very dry. Great results in this cocktail I obtain with MB liqueur. The Jupiter Cocktail with MB Parfait Amour liqueur is great, very interesting drink. It has dry taste with sophisticated fresh vanilla and floral palate, it is cocktail for real adept.

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The Boulevardier Cocktail was introduced for me by Eric Elestad. I read about this cocktail at his perfect blog – Underhill Lounge. His specify that The Boulevardier is more better cocktail than tasted Old Pal. And now I collected a few bottle of perfect bourbon whiskey and ready to taste some interesting.

The story of Boulevardier Cocktail conected (as Ted Haigh in his Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails specify) with name of Erskine Gwynne – expatriate writer, socialite (I like this word!) and nephew of railroad tycoon Alfred Vanderbilt, which edited a magazine The Paris Boulevardier circa 1930. The Boulevardier was his signature drink. This cocktails was rirst mentioned in Barflies and Cocktails by Harry McElhone (1927).

First I atsted the adapted version from the Ted Haigh’s book:

The Boulevardier

45 ml bourbon whiskey
30 ml sweet vermouth
30 ml Campari
Stir all ingredients long and well with a lot of ice. Strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.

I use the Four Roses Bourbon and Cinzano Rosso for my first Boulevardier. It is so good and interesting cocktail. But it is not ideal. The Boulevardier cocktail has bitter-sweet taste with some hints of bourbon. I decide to taste the authentic proportions of the Boulevardier Cocktail from Barflies and Cocktails by Harry McElhone.

Boulevardier aka Bourbon Negroni

25 ml bourbon
25 ml sweet vermouth
25 ml Campari
Stir all ingredients long and well with a lot of ice. Strain into cocktail glass.

The Boulevardier Cocktail aka Bourbon Negroni is great and magnificient cocktail. It has rich and complex palate with notes of sweet herbs, citrus fruits and bourbon.

Also I try the Old Pal Cocktail with rye whiskey instead canadian:

Old Pal

25 ml rye whiskey
25 ml dry vermouth
25 ml Campari
Mix well with a lot of ice. Strain into fancy cocktail glass.

This cocktail is not bad bad no great. It has so bitter taste with herbal pakae of vermouth and Campari and spicy taste of rye whiskey. The Boulevardier is my choice from this two cocktails.

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Today we drink the real old and almost forgotten cocktail – the Fairbanks Cocktail. The name of this cocktail as Ted “Doctor Cocktail” Haigh supposed origanate from Doug Fairbanks (movie star) or Charlie Fairbank (Amarican politician). Any way it is old but interesting drink.

Actually the Fairbanks Cocktail is variation of famous Martini Cocktail with two dash of creme de noyeaux – French almond liqueur. I use the substitute of creme de noyeaux – amaretto (Disaronno Originale – Italian almond liqueur).

Fairbanks Cocktail

50 ml gin
20 ml dry vermouth
2 dash orange bitters
2 dash creme de noyeaux
Stir in a mixing glass with a lot of ice, strain into cocktail glass and garnish with a maraschino cherry.

The taste of Fairbanks Cocktail is great. The dry and herbal taste with great orange palate with a hint of sweet almond. It is very interesting evening cocktail.

My new passion is scotch. I explore blend scotch meanwhile. I have Johny Walker, Balantines, Famous Grouse an Chivas Regal in my bar. Today I explore the one of the classic whisky cocktail – the Rob Roy.

The Rob Roy (Robert Roy MacGregor) is folk Scottish folk hero, something like English Robin Good. The operetta about him (Rob Roy) was popular at Broadway in 1890s. The Rob Roy Cocktail was created at the old Waldorf Astoria Hotel in this time. It was popularized by famous Scottish whisky distiller Tommy Dewar.

The Rob Roy Cocktail is a Manhattan with scotch instead rye (or bourbon). As Manhattan it has three version – Sweet (common), Dry and Perfect. Today we explore this three versions of the Rob Roy Cocktail.

Rob Roy

35 ml scotch
35 ml sweet vermouth
1 dash Angostura bitters
Stir. Cocktail glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

The proportions of the Rob Roy Cocktail may be variable.

The Rob Roy Cocktail is an excellent cocktail with so sweet complex palate with powerful scotch finish.

Dry Rob Roy

50 ml scotch
20 ml dry vermouth
1 dash Angostura bitters
Stir. Cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon peel or an olive.

The Dry Rob Roy Cocktail has so dry taste with dominant taste of scotch.

Perfect Rob Roy

40 ml scotch
20 ml sweet vermouth
20 ml dry vermouth
1 dash Angostura bitters
Stir. Cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon peel.

The Perfect Rob Roy Cocktail has interesting and good-balanced taste with herbal notes of vermouth and powerful scotch finish. I think that Rob Roy is a great cocktail.

Specially for my Rob Roy Cocktail exploring I get yet one bottle of scotch – Teacher`s Highland Cream. And I explore yet one version of Rob Roy – the Rob Roy Holiday Style, which was found on the CocktailDB.

Rob Roy Holiday Style

50 ml scotch
8 ml sweet vermouth
8 ml dry vermouth
8 ml Drambuie
Stir. Cocktail glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

Actually the Rob Roy Holiday Style is magnificient cocktail. It has very balanced strong and sweet taste with wide whisky palate. I use one of my new bottle – Teacher`s Highland Cream, in result I have very smooth anв delicious cocktail.

This cocktail has so familiar name but great composition. The Old Pal Cocktail recipe was found on the CocktailDB. Some times ago I found this cocktail in one of my favorite cocktail book – Cocktail and Mixed Drinks by Anthony Hogg. But Hogg specified rye instead Canadian Club.

Old Pal

25 ml Canadian Club
25 ml dry vermouth
25 ml Campari
Stir. Cocktail glass.

The Old Pal Cocktail is great drink with piquant and complex bitter palate. It is great aperitive and very interesting cocktail.