What's the best rye or bourbon for a Manhattan? I thought this would be a quick and easy question, but it's spun out into weeks of testing, reading, drinking and drinking (poor me). Alas, today, we have the answers to the burning questions that keep you up at night - rye or bourbon? does pricier vermouth matter? can you do a 4-way rye tasting and 6-way Manhattan tasting in the same evening?
Read on for some unexpected answers...
After amusingly fumbling through how we'd keep the test blind (some combination of symbolism, eye closing, and the shell game), we rapidly had 6 Manhattan's on the table - 2 bourbon's, 3 rye's, and 1 glass utilizing a cheaper vermouth than the rest with the rye I suspected to be the most promising. We dove in quick as we raced against the drinks warming up.
Testing Method and scoring:
stirred 20sec each in a clean shaker with lots of ice
Manhattan's were ranked 1 through 6, most liked through least. Rank number was averaged to come to a cumulative rank between the three of us with criteria simply being "what would you most want to sit down and enjoy?".
Bulleit - #2
smooth spice, cherry galore, great base for the bitters and vermouth to shine and meld into, incredibly enjoyable, wonderfully refined as flavors transition from one to another in a pleasing, clean progression
vermouth really standing out, sweet smokey sour balance, but just not enough to stay interesting
Buffalo Trace - #4
smooth sweet and sour flavors with too many creamy cherries, bad mouthfeel with boozy bourbon aftertaste
raw licorice root, immature and hot, acidic alcohol flavors and a completely unbalanced experience
Old Overholt - #5 (tie)
so so sweet with maple sugar, tastes like ovaltine, way too much, just unappealing
Interesting eh? We all rated the top three winners exactly the same and there were some other big surprises here as well:
Vermouth Matters! Using inferior vermouth drowned the winning RIttenhouse into a tie for last place. Don't skimp on the wine kids, especially when it's a difference of $5. I'm now on a mission to find the legendary Vya brand I keep hearing raves about.
Bulleit Rocks! Our winner of the bourbon battles really blossomed in it's vermouth and bitters bath, I was shocked when it was revealed as number two considering the strong character of the rye's.
Bottom line: if you want a great spicy, aromatic, and engaging Manhattan - go with the Rittenhouse, a great acheivment at it's price - almost half of our #2 and #3 picks. If you're looking for something a little more silky and subdued - Bulleit is a great choice. While Bulleit is that quiet, confident, approachable girl who charms her way into your heart, Rittenhouse is drop dead gorgeous, exotic, incredibly outgoing, but somehow never rude or obnoxious.
Of course, this is nowhere near to a final answer on "what's the best Manhattan", as there are just too many whiskey's, vermouths, and bitters out there and just as many personal tastes. Beyond the variety of ingredients, you also have to deal with the intuitive discipline of tweaking the ratios of those ingredients to suit their partners. I'm sure the Sazarac would be a bit better with less bitters and vermouth, while Rittenhouse might find perfection with more. I'm beginning to understand why this deceptively simple 3-part cocktail serves as such a test of skill and technique for bartenders the world over and why it's fascinated and endured for so many years.
I don't think a perfect Manhattan is possible, but you can always get better at it.
Where's the Wild Turkey 101 Rye?
Posted by: Keith Orr | July 01, 2010 at 09:56 AM
I love all this comment spam.
Posted by: Andrew | April 18, 2011 at 12:33 PM