The Manhattan

I’ll make no secret about it:  I love whiskey.  More specifically, I love bourbon.  What makes whiskey bourbon? According to United States Code of Federal Regulations, Title 27, Section 5.22(i)(1):

“Bourbon whisky”, “rye whisky”, “wheat whisky”, “malt whisky”, or “rye malt whisky” is whisky produced at not exceeding 160° proof from a fermented mash of not less than 51 percent corn, rye, wheat, malted barley, or malted rye grain, respectively, and stored at not more than 125° proof in charred new oak containers; and also includes mixtures of such whiskies of the same type.

Right, what you need to know there is bourbon has to be 51% corn.  (Note that, contrary to popular belief, bourbon does not have to be made in Bourbon County, Kentucky.)  From there, however, the amount of adjuncts (other grains) can vary wildly.  With this in mind, you have to be careful when selecting bourbon for particular types of cocktails.  Bourbons with a significant amount of wheat, such as Maker’s Mark or W.L. Weller, tend to be smoother than bourbons with more rye.  Rye imparts a spicy character into the bourbon as can be seen in Bulleit (pronounced “bullet”) bourbon.

So, how does this apply to making the superior cocktail?  Let’s take a fairly straightforward cocktail to see if we can taste the difference.            

The Manhattan, my wife’s favorite, and a cocktail that I have shared with her frequently as of late.  Normally, we would make her Manhattan’s with bourbon, but after some research (you know, Google), I found that the time-honored Manhattan is made with rye whiskey, rather than bourbon.  I liked the bourbon version, but if the traditionalists say rye, then I would give it a shot.  Here are the recipes for the two cocktails that we compared:

Bourbon Based Manhattan

2 oz Bulleit bourbon

½ oz sweet vermouth

3 dashes of Angostura bitters

Rye Based Manhattan

2 oz Bulleit 95% rye whiskey

½ oz sweet vermouth

3 dashes of Angostura bitters

I chose Bulleit bourbon because of its high rye content, thinking that a rye based bourbon will be closer to the traditional Manhattan recipe.  With that said, these two cocktails are like night and day.  The bitters work much better with the rye whiskey.   The vegetable flavors imparted by the bitters work significantly better with the bite of the rye.  With the sweeter, smoother bourbon, the cocktail is far too sweet.  Granted, I wouldn’t have made this distinction without comparing the bourbon version to the rye.  Still, that’s what this blog is all about: discovery.  There is no comparison between the two beverages, and I will never make/purchase a Manhattan without rye whiskey as the backbone again.

How do you take your Manhattan?  Comments are always welcome, as are suggestions for future drink experiments.