Manhattan: Dry, Off-Dry, Off-Off-Dry

We drink a lot of Manhattans here at the Lounge, probably more than anything else, though we don’t have the Dry much, if ever. Yeah, I know—it’s one of the established variations, popularized by Ol’ Blue Eyes and the Rat Pack. I guess the last time I had one until recently was about seven years ago. It wasn’t bad, exactly, but dull—probably the fault of indifferent dry vermouth.

The Dry seems a little better now. Orange bitters compliment the white vermouth and turn it floral and summery. I was experimenting and trying to decide which bitters I liked best with the Dry, and actually ran out of dry vermouth. (Somebody keeps making Martinis around here too.) Reaching for the Cocchi Americano instead, I found that an off-dry version was very tasty indeed and, well, more like a Manhattan. (Almost Perfect?) If made almost half Cocchi Americano, it’s sorta Gilded Age, though maybe richer than I’d prefer most of the time.

Dry Manhattan

• 2 oz bourbon
• 3/4 oz dry vermouth or Cocchi Americano
• 2 dashes Regans’ No. 6 Orange Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Orange twist.
SOURCE: COMPOSITE

Paper design: Jazz, Jean Orlebeke, eieio.

Dry Rye Martini

I want to say right up front that I don’t approve of the trend of calling everything in a conical glass a Martini. Let’s call things by their own names. A Martini is a gin-vermouth combo. I’m prepared to call any added dashes and splashes a matter of taste, but the Martini has to have gin and vermouth—unless the gin tastes like rye, as in Dry Rye Gin by St. George Spirits, in which case, you would do better to call it a Dry Rye Martini. And if instead of dry vermouth you made it with Cocchi Americano—say a fair amount of it—you wouldn’t have a Dry Martini—though it could still be a Dry Rye Martini. Except that it wouldn’t be dry—only the Dry Rye would be dry. And the Dry Rye is gin, and dry, but not like a London dry gin. But it’s just as dry—you follow me?

Now don’t think for a moment that this is a Martini because it’s not. Except that it is. There’s the gin—but Dry Rye isn’t what I’d call a Martini gin. Except, I suppose, if you used it in a Martini recipe, which this is. You got the gin and the vermouth. And orange bitters. You don’t hear much about orange bitters in Martinis anymore. Why would that ever go away? But it seems to be coming back. I’m glad. Anyway, here’s the recipe. Have at it.



Dry Rye Martini

• 2 oz St. George Spirits Dry Rye Gin
• 3/4 oz Cocchi Americano (or Lillet will do)
• 2 dashes Regans’ Orange Bitters

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

You can twist the twist and drop it in, or discard it if you find that your twist keeps ending up in your mouth near the end of the drink. But if that happens, you’re probably gulping. I won’t tell you not to drink too fast. That’s your own affair.

The Nutty Rooster

Other cocktailians must get asked this a lot too: What’s your favorite drink? I dunno—the one in my hand? I wouldn’t even be able to decide on a favorite Martini recipe, though this variant of my own is up there. The inspiration seems a bit hazy at the moment though I must’ve been making a lot of Gordon Cocktails at the time cuz there was a bottle of dry sherry open. And I remember that a bottle of Beefeater, an old favorite, made a major contribution too.

Oddly, nobody ever asks me what my favorite gin is, though I wouldn’t be able to answer that either.



The Nutty Rooster

• 2 oz London dry gin (Beefeater)
• 1/4 oz Amontillado sherry
• 1/4 oz Cocchi Americano

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

Cocchi Americano has reappeared in San Francisco and not a moment too soon. Besides the giving me the pleasure of the drink in this post, my Twentieth Centuries and Vespers are a little brighter from Cocchi’s subtle but distinct cinchona edge. And I love the two apéritif wines, the Cocchi and the sherry, together. Orange oil makes a major contribution to the Rooster in its own right, so the twist should be nice and big.