Manhattan Variations: Remember the Maine

Maybe there ought to be a few more drinks named for historical events so they’d stand a better chance of being remembered. One time I was in a bar, looking casually at some photos of planes and airmen on the wall, when along came a friendly guy who wanted to tell me and my friend all about them. Military history buffs are often remarkable people but the best of them understand whether a stranger two tables away might or might not have a desire to know immediately how those six fellows happened to be in China.

I don’t read a lot of military history. But if every drink on the menu contained some historical fact in the name or description, I could have learned them all before I had even ordered, and countered with some trivia of my own. Think of the educational value alone if we incorporated historical allusions with our cocktail lists. I bet you could teach the average sorority girl the entire Second World War.



Remember the Maine

• 2 oz rye
• 3/4 oz sweet vermouth
• 2 tsp cherry brandy
• 1/2 tsp absinthe

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Lemon twist.
ADAPTED FROM THE GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, CHARLES H. BAKER, JR.

This was my first recipe with Rothman & Winter Orchard Cherry. It’s lighter in color and flavor than Cherry Heering. I don’t know that I have a preference either way, though the Orchard Cherry was good with the similarly light and clear Dolin Rouge vermouth.

I borrowed the recipe off my fellow cocktail bloggers. Paul manages to work in a McKinley reference. Filip has a grand picture.