Manhattan Variations: Bushwick

Here’s a Brooklyn with sweet vermouth instead of dry. I had wondered if it might be slightly too heavy for my taste but ended up enjoying it. The inspiration of bartender Phil Ward, it was brought to my attention by Keith P, who writes theSpeakista and has a fine Manhattan series of his own.



Bushwick

• 2 oz rye (Rittenhouse 100)
• 3/4 oz sweet vermouth (Carpano Antica)
• 1/4 oz Torani Amer
• 1/4 oz Maraschino (Luxardo)

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: PHIL WARD, BY WAY OF THESPEAKISTA

Richer than the original Brooklyn, there’s a Red Hookish darkness from the sweet vermouth that I may even prefer in this sort of arrangement to dry vermouth.

Manhattan Calling: Manhattan Cocktail Links

The last few days, I’ve been running around like the proverbial decapitated chicken, but don’t suppose for a moment that I haven’t been thinking about and drinking Manhattans in my customary fashion. Below are a few links I happened to like, in no particular order.

The great gaz regan on the great whiskey potion.

And of course you gotta have Wondrich too.

Oh yeah—and Robert Hess has a video.

Then there’s the Wall Street Journal.

None of these mentions that story about Jennie Jerome having invented the Manhattan, presumably because she didn’t and it seems barely worthy of a footnote now. But it turns up now and then—I saw it in the first bar book I read—so you might as well have it. You can say that you read it in The NYT so it must be true that it’s not true. And there’s a variation at Churchill, appropriately, which is named after her, and more of a Brooklyn anyway.

Fort Greene

This cocktail owes some inspiration to the Slope, which Frederic posted last week and I wanted to try. But it would’ve meant opening a bottle of Punt e Mes, and my fridge was looking a little overcrowded with similar bottles of aromatized wine and the like. I reached for the sherry instead.

Like the Slope, Fort Greene is a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York.



Fort Greene

• 2 oz rye
• 1/2 oz Amontillado sherry
• 1/4 oz apricot brandy
• dash Angostura Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Lemon twist.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

NYC Cocktail Roundup

This weekend I was back in New York visiting, and my friends and I tasted so many good things it’s hard to remember them all. We went to Painkiller, Char No. 4, Maialino, Clover Club and Saul Restaurant, and in all of them, I wanted to order everything. (We wondered which would be more expensive, the check or the trip to the emergency room.) My only regret is that I didn’t get to meet more bartenders, but everywhere was busy and we ended up at a table almost every time.



Painkiller is an interesting surprise for a tropical bar: it is also urban. You’re still on Essex Street, but suddenly it’s Tiki. The list is very long and dense, resembling a Cantonese takeout restaurant. (Can I get a large Pearl Diver’s Punch to go?) Arranged according to type, many drinks have no other description, but the folks there are very helpful and ready to talk about what you want. And there’s something for everyone. I was in full crushed-ice Beachcomber madness but my buddy was ordering great rye cocktails I hadn’t had anywhere else.



Char No. 4, Cobble Hill’s great bourbon house is also good for brunch, and features bourbon cocktails, naturally. The bourbon apple toddy is good for taking the chill off a February morning.



I love hotel bars and get cranky when they change one I like, but the new Gramercy Park Hotel makeover is good. The restaurant bar in Maialino is comfortable and has a classy cocktail list. And they’re very nice behind the bar though I may have driven one guy crazy. I ordered La Luna Violetta, essentially an Aviation with Lambrusco instead of crème de violette. I didn’t read carefully—I just assumed it would have to have violet of some description. Before I tasted it, I kept asking the bartender what the violet component was. He must’ve thought I was nuts.



The current list at Clover Club has a great julep-style item, the Louisville Cathouse, an unlikely combo of Ancho chile infused bourbon, crème de cacao and Fernet Branca that comes over all leather and tobacco. Also great is the Duke Leto, rich and caramel-like with Old Tom, Dubonnet, green Chartreuse and salt tincture served over (around?) a big cylinder of ice.



This roundup wouldn’t seem complete with at least one scotch cocktail, Saul Restaurant’s Torino Fog, a mellow glass of Martell V.S., Punt e Mes, cinnamon and walnut bitters and a Bruichladdich Peat rinse. I wish I had one in my hand right now.



Thanks to everybody who made us feel comfortable and served us the best. It was an awesome visit.

Summer Pub Crawling: Clover Club

The New York weather had eased off a little by the time my friends and I were walking down Smith Street to Clover Club, but it was still a night for summer drinks. I read through the whole list before going with my first impulse, Summer Thyme, a subtly rich sour of cognac, Licor 43, lemon juice, fresh thyme and Angostura orange bitters.



More conspicuously rich was the Gold Coast: aged rum, pineapple, lime, allspice, Champagne. As I tried not to slurp it down too greedily, it was hard not to think that it was the best thing I had tasted in my life. (I want one right now.) Sorry to say the photo shows it almost half consumed and not in the full glory of Tom the bartender’s artistry when he set it down in front of me, but it was so delectable that I had to drink first and take pictures later.

Summer Pub Crawling: The JakeWalk

For many reasons, I was not in New Orleans for Tales of the Cocktail but in New York, and didn’t even have much consolation in the weather, which was oppressive from the moment I stepped off the plane. But at least I was able to drink some really good things. One evening, I met a friend for a couple of rounds at The JakeWalk, a groovy Carroll Gardens restaurant and bar featuring a first-rate cocktail list.



It was difficult to choose from all the tasty-looking drinks so I followed my practice of ordering what seemed most challenging, and went with the Violent Bear, which contained genever, Punt e Mes, stone pine liqueur, honey syrup and Xocolatl Mole bitters, and probably had nothing to do with Jeffrey Morganthaler’s Geek or Bear quiz.



Next up was the Dudebro, a rum, white vermouth and Aperol combo. This went perfectly with the New York summer: heady, aromatic, complex, off-dry. I’m really getting to like rum cocktails that feature amaro-type aromatics and have no sour component.



A friend ordered the Tequila Gumption, which contained reposado tequila, mezcal, maraschino, Angostura and orange bitters, and I mooched a light, smoky sip. The Tequila Gumption was billed as a “Special Guest Cocktail, created by Katie’s Boyfriend, Mayahuel, NYC.” As I never got to Mayahuel this trip, it was cool to taste this, especially as they just won World’s Best New Cocktail Bar at Tales.

Red Hook

I first found the Red Hook a few years ago in a great post by Paul Clarke. Named for an area of my old hometown, Brooklyn, New York, this rye cocktail is an appropriately edgy and solid relative of the Brooklyn and the Manhattan. I’ve become very fond of it and keep it in regular rotation, adding a lemon twist to brighten things up and compliment the rye.



Red Hook

• 2 oz rye
• 1/2 oz Punt e Mes
• 1/4 oz maraschino

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Deploy the twist.

Source: adapted from a recipe posted by Paul Clarke, The Cocktail Chronicles

The Brooklyn Cocktail

Maerose Prizzi: So let's do it.
Charley Partanna: With all the lights on?
Maerose Prizzi: Yeah. Right here. On the Oriental. With all the lights on.

—Prizzi’s Honor (1985)

It wasn’t until I moved all the way across the country that I learned of this beautiful cocktail named for my homeland. It’s every bit as delicious and sophisticated as the Manhattan, but its ingredients are a little harder to come by, and it has four of ’em instead of three. “Welcome to Brooklyn: Fourth Largest City in the World.”



The Brooklyn Cocktail

• 2 oz rye or bourbon (Rittenhouse 100)
• 3/4 oz dry vermouth (Dolin)
• 2 tsp Torani Amer
• 2 tsp maraschino liqueur

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a cocktail cherry—homemade, if you happen to have.

Source: Ted Haigh, a.ka. Dr. Cocktail, Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails