Manhattan Cocktail

The Manhattan is one of the founding fathers of American cocktail culture — a member of the original 'classic cocktail' category of spirits-vermouth-bitters drinks that defined 19th-century American bartending. Along with the Old Fashioned and the Martini, it forms the holy trinity of American whiskey cocktails. While the Old Fashioned is older (and more popular by some metrics), the Manhattan introduced the concept of using fortified wine (vermouth) to add depth and roundness to American whiskey — a pairing that seems obvious in retrospect but was revolutionary at the time.

drinkDetail.region New York City, New York

The Manhattan's origin is attributed to the Manhattan Club in New York City, where it was reportedly created around 1874 for a banquet hosted by Lady Randolph Churchill (Winston Churchill's mother). Like many cocktail origin stories, this is disputed — the drink appears in print by 1882 and was certainly well-established in New York cocktail culture by the 1880s. The original recipe used rye whiskey (the dominant American whiskey before Prohibition) and sweet Italian vermouth. The modern popularity of bourbon in Manhattans is a post-Prohibition shift.

Classic Manhattan: 2 oz rye whiskey (or bourbon), 1 oz sweet vermouth, 2 dashes Angostura bitters. Stirred with ice in a mixing glass for 30-40 rotations until well-chilled and properly diluted, then strained into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass. Garnish with a Luxardo maraschino cherry (not the bright red supermarket cherries — Luxardo dark cherries make a profound difference). A twist of orange or lemon peel is an alternative garnish.

The Manhattan represents a high-water mark in American cocktail culture — the era before Prohibition when American bartenders were the world's most creative and technically accomplished, and when New York was the global cocktail capital. The cocktail's resurgence in the early 21st century Craft Cocktail Revival — when bartenders began studying pre-Prohibition recipes and using quality spirits and fresh ingredients — helped restore the Manhattan to its rightful place as one of the great drinks of the world. New York's cocktail culture, built on the Manhattan's legacy, remains one of the most innovative and influential in the world.