Comments on: How to make a Manhattan

By: Chuck

Chuck — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 07:09:14 +0000

It’s great to see you here, Ken! Very glad you found us. If you like what you see, you’re more than welcome to read ten years worth of archives. That’s a lot of goofing-off-at-work time taken care of.

http://looka.gumbopages.com/archive/

By: Ken Moorhead

Ken Moorhead — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 07:00:22 +0000

As one who has just recently discovered this blog (and rye, for that matter…) finding this video was perfect. I may have to make myself some bourbon soaked cherries. Hopefully they’ll last long enough to actually be used in a cocktail!

By: Chuck

Chuck — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 07:44:48 +0000

I’ve always been a firm believer in a hefty shake of bitters while dashing, with the energy coming from the elbow.

I did learn a really good nice technique from Misty Kalkofen at Drink in Boston, though … she observed, quite correctly, that dashes shaken from a bottle are very inconsistent, depending on the size of the bottle, how much bitters is left in the bottle, the energy put behind the dash, what type of little plastic dasher bottle is on the top, and is it leaking, etc. She measures dashes from an eyedropper bottle, and learned to gauge by eye how much in the eyedropper equals one dash. That way her doses of bitters are perfectly consistent with every drink. Pretty cool.

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:54:26 +0000

Wow, he gets way more out of a shake of the bitters than I do.

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:24:59 +0000

Hey! He measures dashes like I do!

By: Mike S.

Mike S. — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:32:50 +0000

Great drink, great video, great way to launch the redesign! And BTW, a round-up of all Manhattan variations could end up a life-long project — not that that’s a bad thing; there are some variations that I like every bit as much, and perhaps more, than the classic recipe itself (e.g., McKinley’s Delight).

By: Chuck

Chuck — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:20:38 +0000

If we’re talking about the classic Manhattan recipe — whiskey, sweet vermouth and bitters — then I maintain that Carpano can’t be beat.

I love chinato, though, and though I’ve never tried that I bet it’ll be fantastic. But if you start swapping out sweet vermouth for chinato and quinquina, I might argue that it’s no longer a true Manhattan, but one of the many wonderful Manhattan variations. You could name it after a neighborhood in New York (if there are any left that don’t have a drink named for them), or maybe your own.

Thanks for the suggestion — I shall try it soon. And I think I need to do a roundup post of all the Manhattan variations I’ve collected — there are a ton of ‘em.

By: Frederic

Frederic — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:07:53 +0000

“but nothing beats Carpano (car-PAH-no)”

A good Barolo Chinato trumps all for a Manhattan in my book. Although they cost more than twice as much as Carpano does. I’ll have to watch that video when I’m not here at work…