The Manhattan is my ur-drink. If the city of Manhattan is a shadow of Amber, Viriconium, and Rome, then its namesake potation is surely a reflection of Ambrosia, Manna, and the she-wolf's nourishing milk. While an ideal is just a concept, its reflection is a single now plucked from the resonance of infinitude.
Manhattan #1
2 oz Old Overholt rye
1 oz Carpano Antica
2 dashes Angostura
Luxardo cherry
My first home build, and nothing to turn up your nose at. There is a beautiful mind meld between these three specific bottles that Herbert calls The "Peanut & Vanilla" Effect. I might say I get a taste of pumpernickel on the finish, or a sweet and savory Payday bar tilted ever so slightly toward caraway. Herbert calls it "nougat." I call it "nougat" too but, but only because it tastes like that word sounds. The flavor is right, but the build is too soft and thin with the 80-proof whiskey.
Manhattan #2
2 oz Rittenhouse rye
1 oz Carpano Antica
2 dashes Angostura
Stir till your fingers get cold
Luxardo cherry
This was my go-to for years and years. Everybody on earth will recommend Rittenhouse for this and every other purpose. And it is indeed good. I never thought twice about it. But I did miss that Old Overholt nougat.
Manhattan #3
2 oz Old Overholt Cask Strength 11 year old rye
1 oz Carpano Antica
2 dashes Angostura
50s stir
Luxardo cherry
Lords of Light! It's incredible, sublime! Every sip offers a new progression of flavors. I taste the leather, the peanut brittle, a hint of cherry. As it warms, that distinctive OO finish comes to the fore. If you told Manhattan #1 to grow a backbone, and it collected life lessons for a decade, you'd get Manhattan #3. If you plied Willy Wonka with these, and he went on a drunken invention binge, perhaps you'd get that pumpernickel candy bar you've been craving.
I got very tipsy, and Herbert and I had a spat. Why have I been wasting myself on Rittenhouse for so long?
Manhattan #4
2 oz Old Overholt 114
1 oz Carpano Antica
2 dashes Angostura
60s stir
Luxardo cherry
I did not love this. So hot with the 114, and fruitier and flatter overall than #3. Less of my ideal nougat flavor, although it returns as the drink warms. Then it comes on strong, but its louche bedfellow elbows it aside and breathes right in my face with a sour, hot wind. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em—maybe if I eat a pickle, this unwelcome fellow will go away. Ah yes, problem solved, but I wanted a Manhattan, not a pickle.
Manhattan #5
2 oz Old Overholt Cask Strength 11 year old rye
1 oz Carpano Antica
2 dashes Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas Decanter bitters
60s stir
Luxardo cherry
Delicious, but I think not as good as #3. Softer and more integrated than that one, and a touch sweeter, with a drying, dusty finish like a tinge of regret. This is somebody's ideal girl, but not mine.
Manhattan #6
2 oz Old Overholt 11 year cask strength
1 oz Carpano Antica
1 dash Angostura
1 dash Miracle Mile Toasted Pecan bitters
45s stir
Luxardo cherry garnish
The toasted pecan bitters are delightful on the nose, but this is flatter than #3 and reads too dry overall. If #3 is a lovingly oiled boot, this is a cracked leather armchair.
Manhattan #7
2 oz Old Overholt 11 year cask strength
1 oz Carpano Antica
0.5 tsp gum demerara syrup (Liber and Co)
1 dash Angostura
2 dashes Miracle Mile Candy Cap bitters
1 dash (scant) Regan's orange bitters
45s stir
Luxardo cherry garnish
The gum really does something here. Slippery when wet, like drinking an oyster. Strong maple on the nose and in the aftertaste from the candy cap, and too sweet overall. I've lost the nougat somewhere in the forest. About three quarters of the way through, I add a drop of saline, and it busts everything open. It's like I stepped on a sea star and a mess of technicolor guts spilled out.
The candy cap clobbered the nougat, the salt just made it more of an asshole, and it hired a slippery bastard of a sweet-talking lawyer in the gum syrup.
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