The Inspiration
Kyle and I have been perfecting our Manhattan since we lived together in Manhattan, now more than 8 years ago. And while we tried many variations, the perfect manhattan (with equal parts sweet and dry vermouth and 3X the pretentious sounding name when you order it at a place that has no idea what you’re talking about) was our favorite, obviously.
After a few iterations, we were pretty happy with this combination. We found we liked a stronger pour of bourbon to balance the vermouth and a touch of nuttiness from black walnut bitters. This turned out to be the most polarizing drink of the manhattan toast off, a blind tasting of 8 different manhattans, where 4 tasters voted it top two and 4 tasters voted it bottom two.
Ingredients
3 ounces bourbon (makers preferred)
0.5 ounce dry carpano vermouth
0.5 ounce sweet carpano antica vermouth
2 dashes of angostura bitters
1 dash of black walnut bitters
How to Prepare
Add all ingredients into a mixing glass with ice and stir for a minimum of 30 seconds
Strain and pour over a large clear ice cube in an old fashioned glass
Cheers!