½ oz Averna
¼ oz Benedictine
¼ oz Rothman & Winter apricot liqueur
2 oz Rittenhouse rye
2 dashes Angostura
stir, big rock, stuck cherry
Finally, a Manhattan variation variation I feel is good enough to name. Based on “The Slope” by Julie Reiner of the Clover Club, this recipe replaces ¾ oz Punt y Mes with Averna and Benedictine. The result is completely different but still delicious.
Named for the neighborhood where my grandmother lives (with whom I briefly lived, too).
a.k.a “Hannah’s Sorrow” or “Hannah’s Woe,” Rosy named this after Mia Farrow’s character in Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters. Why? It has at least one scene set in Central Park in the fall and I thought the name had to evoke Manhattan in the autumn.
2 oz bourbon (e.g. 1½ oz Rendezvous, ½ oz Four Roses)
½ oz allspice dram
splash Gran Classico
splash Carpano Antica
stir over ice, strain over a big rock
The title isn’t a typo, this may be the perfect Perfect Manhattan. At least it would be if I’d remembered what “Perfect Manhattan” actually meant: I thought it referred to the 2-1-2 bourbon-vermouth-Angostura recipe (212 being the area code for Manhattan) but apparently it refers to the 1 being ½ sweet and ½ dry vermouth. Regardless, this is the best 2-1-2 Manhattan I’ve ever had, and it’s a 100% Rocho production. This is also when I found out she’d quietly started drinking my Rendezvous — I’d though it safe since she initially expressed a strong preference for bourbon, but much like her taste in beer her taste for rye (or at least for rye Manhattans) is evolving.
2 oz Rendezvous Rye
1 oz Carpano Antica
2 d Angostura Bitters
Stir on ice, strain over a big rock.