Last week we talked about Martinis as part of Before Dinner Cocktails.
Today we will talk about Manhattans.
As we already know what a Before Dinner Cocktail is, we don't need to explain this definition anymore. But we could elaborate on it a bit more.
For this we take a closer look at an important ingredient.
This ingredient depends on the drink, but every Before Dinner Cocktail has it.
It's the Aperitif-Ingredient (Yeah I named that myself).
This Aperitif-Ingredient is the ingredient which is also commonly purely drunk as an Aperitif.
In case of Martinis and Manhattans, this Aperitif-Ingredient is the Vermouth.
I will tell you a little about Vermouth.
Vermouth is fortified wine with differentianting sweetness.
A white wine is used as basis and then fortified with stronger alcohol.
Afterwards it's placed in barrels with different ingredients, consisting of aromatic herbs, roots and so on. Some ingredients used are cinnamon, cardamon, marjoram and more.
Depending on how sweet the vermouth should be, sugar is added.
Actually I figured this out after I posted my first post and thought I could use this to group the Before Dinner Cocktails, but after giving it some thought I still had the same problem, these groups are just too different.
But enough of that, we all want to look at the Manhattans, so here they are:
(Sweet) Manhattan
Like the Martini, it is unkown who invented the Manhattan, but there is a nice little tale I'd like to share.
It is said that the Manhattan originated in the Manhattan Club in New York, around 1870, where Dr. Iain Marshall invented it for a banquet hosted by Lady Randolph Churchill (Winston Churchills mother) in honor of presidential candidate Samuel J. Tilden. After the banquet people liked the drink so much, they were asking for it everywhere, referring to it with the name of the club, the Manhattan cocktail was born. Sadly this is only fiction because Lady Randolph Churchill was in france during that time.
None the less, this amazing drink was created and if you have the time you should make and drink one. The components for every Manhattan are Whiskey, Vermouth and a Bitter (classical with Angostura Bitter, but other Bitters can also be used).
As we already know from the Martinis, the sweet in front of the Manhattan can only mean one thing, Sweet Vermouth.
For the Whiskey you traditionally use Rye Whiskey or Canadian Whiskey, but other sorts of whiskey are also fine.
Recipe:
5cl Whiskey
2cl Sweet Vermouth
1-2 dashes Angostura Bitter
Topping: Cocktail-Cherry (I got no Cocktail-Cherries at home so I used a Orangetwist sorry about that)
Preparation: Stirred in a Mixingglass and then strained into a Martiniglass. Or pour it on the rocks in a Rockglass.
Glass: Martiniglass or Rockglass.
Dry Manhattan
Similar to the Manhattan, but dryer. To emphasize this point we even substitute the Cocktail-Cherry with a Orangetwist.
Recipe:
5cl Whiskey
2cl Dry Vermouth
1-2 dashes Angostura Bitter
Topping: Orangetwist
Preparation: Stirred in a Mixingglass and then strained into a Martiniglass. Or pour it on the rocks in a Rockglass.
Glass: Martiniglass or Rockglass.
Perfect Manhattan
Similar to the Perfect Martini, this describes the perfect balance of Dry and Sweet Vermouth.
Recipe:
5cl Whiskey
1cl Dry Vermouth
1cl Sweet Vermouth
1-2 dashes Angostura Bitter
Topping: Cocktail-Cherry or Orangetwist
Preparation: Stirred in a Mixingglass and then strained into a Martiniglass. Or pour it on the rocks in a Rockglass.
Glass: Martiniglass or Rockglass.
Rob Roy
Interesting name for this one, because the only change is Scotch Whiskey instead of Rye or Canadian Whiskey.
Okay, we also have both sorts of Vermouth.
Recipe:
4cl Whiskey
2.5cl Dry Vermouth
2.5cl Sweet Vermouth
1-2 dashes Angostura Bitter
Topping: Cocktail-Cherry or Orangetwist
Preparation: Stirred in a Mixingglass and then strained into a Martiniglass. Or pour it on the rocks in a Rockglass.
Glass: Martiniglass or Rockglass.
Composition:
Like before, I will tell you something about the composition of the Manhattans.
Again you might notice two things, two things we already talked about with the Martinis.
Around 7cl as the overall volume, the explanation is the same as with the Martinis, for one it looks more clean if every drink of the same category has the same volume and for another 7cl is enough alcohol to drink.
The other thing is, again, more Whiskey than Vermouth. Like with the Martinis, this is because the Manhattan is a Whiskey cocktail and not a Vermouth Cocktail.
So there is not much of a composition talk today.
But next time, when we look at Champagne Cocktails and the like and other cocktails we can't really categorize, then we have more to talk about in terms of composition.