Manhatten

Happy Thirsty Thursday!

Drink:

Manhattan

Recipe:

2 parts Rye Whiskey
1 part Sweet Vermouth
1 dash Angostura Bitters
1 Maraschino Cherry

Stir Rye Whiskey, Sweet Vermouth, and Angostura Bitters over ice, strain into chilled Cocktail Glass, garnish with Maraschino Cherry and serve.

Description:

Perhaps the most popular of the cocktails named after New York City's five boroughs, the Manhattan is the choice drink of the big city's highest of rollers.

Suck it, Brooklyn.

A bit sweet but still delivering a touch of a bite, this cocktail is a perfect accompaniment to some insider trading chat before dinner. Just be sure not to spill any on your french cuffs.

Editor's Note: Also appeals to the residents of a small island on the coast of Germany, apparently.

Variants:

Bartenders like to show off by putting their own twist on the Manhattan, usually by making small changes such as shaking over ice instead of stirring or using different styles of bitters and whiskey. Wikipedia, as usual, has a robust list of variants, but here are a couple of the more notable:

• An early (and awesome) version of the cocktail in William Schmidt's "The Flowing Bowl" used:
• 2 dashes of gum
  
• 2 dashes of bitters
• 1 dash of absinthe
  
• 2/3 portion of whiskey
• 1/3 portion of vermouth
•  The Dry Manhattan:
• Replace Sweet Vermouth with Dry Vermouth
• Popularized by Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack
• Which makes this variant even classier, something originally thought impossible.