Manhattan 2 ounces rye or bourbon whiskey 1/2 ounce sweet vermouth 1 dash of Angostura bitters Stir with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass. You can also use bourbon instead of rye.

Manhattan
DrinkBoy Says: Making a Manhattan without bitters is like making a soup without salt. Sure, you can do it, but why?

The Manhattan is a very old cocktail, most likely having been invented in the 1870's at New Yorks Manhattan Club from which it gets its name. It has the same sort of simplicity as a Martini, but with much more flavor. And fortunately, unlike the Martini, it is still proper to be made with both vermouth and bitters.

Originally, like most American Whiskey drinks prior to prohibition, this cocktail was made with Rye. Today, it is more commonly made with Bourbon, but only because there are a lot more Bourbon's on the market then there are Rye's. If you can find a good Rye, like Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye, then by all means try it, but a Bourbon like Makers Mark is excellent as well and perhaps more common.

To make a Manhattan properly, it is very important to create a good balance of all the flavors that go into it. Some bartenders will tend to treat a Manhattan the same way they do a Martini, and use far too little sweet vermouth in it, and often leave the bitters out entirely. But properly done, this cocktail should present a balanced showcase of all the ingredients it contains. I always use a healthy dose of vermouth, and never leave out the bitters. If you can find them, Abbott's bitters are the bitters of choice for a Manhattan, but since they haven't been made for almost 60 years, you might have some trouble getting ahold of this. In which case Angostura bitters works fine, or you could try Fee's Aromatic Bitters.

While the Maraschino Cherry is the common garnish for a Manhattan, it was not the original garnish. The Maraschino Cherry appears to have made its debut in the early 1900's some time, but a cherry was listed as a garnish for the Manhattan long before that. In those days they would often garnish their cocktails with cherries that had been soaking in spirits of some sort. Either Brandy, Whiskey, or some other form of Eau de Vie.