Day 7 – Manhattan (sort of)

I envy those people who have a fully-stocked home bar. My all-time favourite drink is a Manhattan, but shamefully, I’ve never made one myself.. After returning from the UK with a bottle of real Kentucky bourbon courtesy of my brother-in-law I decided the time was right.

Now I know Manhattans are normally made with rye rather than bourbon, but seeing as I’m not someone with a full bar, I’m working with what I’ve got. So now’s the time to maybe look at a traditional Manhattan recipe, such as this one.

• 2 ounces rye whiskey
•  1 ounce sweet vermouth
•  2 dashes of Angostura bitters
•  Ice
•  1 maraschino cherry, for garnish

So vermouth I have, no problems there. It’s dry though, not sweet, as that’s how I like my martinis. Ok, two out of the four main ingredients I’ve kind of but not really got. No problem right? Let’s go to the next two: angostura bitters and maraschino cherries. Look, I’m going to cut to the chase here and say that I didn’t get these right either. Time wasn’t on my side and my local shop just wasn’t cutting it, so I managed some sort of German version of both.

Did I make a Manhattan? Kind of but actually not really. I did make some sort of drinkable alcoholic beverage that resembles a Manhattan. It’s the closest I’ve got yet and it tasted…fine. I’m taking it as a win!