Imbibe! (33 page)

 

NOTES ON INGREDIENTS:
Peruvian bitters were an advertiser in the little bar manual put out by New York’s G. Winter Brewing Co., from which this recipe hails, and must be evaluated as such. Angostura bitters, Abbott’s bitters, and Peychaud’s bitters appear in other early Manhattan recipes, though according to its official history the Manhattan Club made them with orange bitters, which are a nice touch (and endorsed by Harry Johnson, whose opinion is not to be taken lightly). The gum can be dispensed with, without affecting the drink’s allure in any way.

The Manhattan has been enshrined in tradition as a rye drink, but this recipe isn’t alone in calling for plain “whiskey,” which could mean rye, but also bourbon or even a blended whiskey. Out of twenty-odd pre-Prohibition recipes consulted, only four specified which kind of whiskey should be used, and two of those went with bourbon. In the northeast, anyway, that generic “whiskey” would generally be taken as rye, but not always. As much of a rye partisan as I am, I’ve nonetheless found that the choice of rye or bourbon is less important than the choice of 80- or 100-proof whiskey. All things being equal, a 100-proof rye will make the best Manhattan, but a 100-proof bourbon will make a more incisive and balanced drink than an 80-proof rye. This holds particularly true when mixing them fifty-fifty, like this version calls for.

The earliest recipes mention no garnish for this drink—no cherry, no twist. Before long, both found their way in there. Personally, I prefer the twist.

 

NOTES ON INGREDIENTS:
The maraschino makes for a more interesting drink. This is the earliest Manhattan recipe to specify rye, which should again be 100-proof. In place of Boker’s, Fee’s Aromatic bitters work well in this one. The small amount of ice here is a holdover from the Vermouth Cocktail, and indicates a desire to avoid overdilution. A century and a quarter of experience with vermouth in Cocktails has taught us that this need not be a concern, so feel free to ice con brio.

NOTES ON EXECUTION:
Some mixologists are just shaker-happy, and the guy who revised Jerry Thomas’s book is one of them. Stir. The claret glass is specified because at 3 ounces before shaking, this drink is bigger than the standard Cocktail glass of the day would safely accommodate; our Cocktail glasses are bigger, so use one. For what to do with the lemon, see the Fancy Vermouth Cocktail (page 236).

 

NOTES ON INGREDIENTS:
Be sure to use the right whiskey, as specified above. The gum is eminently dispensable. As for the bitters: Angostura is the modern choice, and has always worked fabulously well in this drink. In the Manhattan’s youth, many of its communicants liked the dash of absinthe in theirs, and it does make for a fragrant drink. In fact, if you follow the skilled, creative, and popular bartender William Schmidt’s formula to a T, maraschino and all, you’ve got a drink that is a perfect metaphor for the 1890s, a decade of top hats and electric lights, automobiles and buggy whips. A final twist of lemon peel will do the drink, or you, no harm.

Whiskey and vermouth having proved itself to be a successful combination, it didn’t take long for the bartenders to fall back on standard procedure and try the red stuff out with brandy (see the Metropole, page 249) and gin—indeed, one or both of these combinations may even have come first. It really doesn’t matter—the way mixology was practiced in the Gilded Age, to try one combination was to try them all. The whiskey version was merely the most successful—at first, anyway: While the brandy one never amounted to much
with the general tippling public, the gin one, after some tinkering to be sure, would eventually eclipse them all.

The Origin of the Martini is one of those topics that is too large for a headnote; you’ll find my thoughts on it in Appendix III. Suffice it to say that it appears close on the heels of the Manhattan, in the same precincts. Here, I’ll confine my remarks to matters mixological. The early recipes for the Martini (or Martinez, or Martine, or Turf Club) all called for sweet vermouth and Old Tom gin, which was lighter and more mixable than the old-school Hollands that worked so well in the Gin Cocktail. (Hollands combines poorly with vermouth, as the bartenders discovered for themselves—their unanimity in avoiding it in the Martini was no doubt born of experience.) As with the Manhattan, I’ve given three recipes, a Turf Club from 1884, to show the drink in its infancy; a Martinez from 1887, to show the reverse option; and a Fourth Degree, from the old Waldorf-Astoria’s bar book (so circa 1915), to show it in its maturity. (“Origin somewhat mixed,” says the Waldorf-Astoria’s chronicler about the last, “but traceable to patrons of the bar who belonged to some secret society or other.”) I can vouch for the extraordinary palatability of all three.

 

NOTES ON INGREDIENTS:
For the bitters, see Manhattan Formula #1 (page 240); although for something a bit more integrated in flavor, use Angostura. The loss of Old Tom gin is irreparable, although if you can get your hands on a bottle of the discontinued Tanqueray Malacca you’ll come pretty close. Otherwise, Damrak or Junipero are good, thicker-bodied gins to try. If you want maximum authenticity, add a dash—say, ¼ teaspoon—of gum. As with the early Manhattan recipes, this one specifies no garnish. A twist of lemon peel is always welcome, though. Most early recipes for the Martini /Martinez include a couple of dashes of gum on top of the (sweet) Tom gin and the (sweet) Vermouth. For the modern palate, this is entirely unnecessary—and not just the modern palate: As “Cocktail” Boothby noted in 1891, “The Old Tom Cordial gin and Italian vermouth of which the [Martini] are composed are both sweet enough.”

 

NOTES ON INGREDIENTS:
For the bitters and gin, see Formula #1 (page 244). Maraschino and gin have a particular affinity for each other, and even though the gin is the junior partner in this reverse-proportion Martini, the pairing shines through. For the ice, see Manhattan Formula #2 (page 241).

NOTES ON EXECUTION:
Don’t shake, stir!

 

NOTES ON INGREDIENTS:
Self-explanatory. A very simple drink. For an old-school drink, use 1½ ounces of gin to ¾ ounce of vermouth. For a more modern one, go with what’s sugested. As always with a vermouth drink, lemon peel is nice.

 

NOTES ON EXECUTION:
Stir with plenty of cracked ice and strain.