How To Make a Manhattan

Cocktail-wise, Craig--who's now our official bartender--has two drinks up his sleeve. The first, a Sidecar, I wrote about a few weeks ago. Now he has a new one, perfect for these chilly-weather months: a Manhattan.

Once again, the drink comes to us from the incredible, holiday gift-worthy P.D.T. Cocktail Book. It's actually a super simple drink to make, if you have the right ingredients. Those ingredients are: whiskey, Martini sweet vermouth, Angostura bitters and--for a garnish--Maraschino or brandied cherries:

The P.D.T. book calls for Wild Turkey Rye whiskey, but Craig is a Maker's Mark kind of guy (he even drank it on our first date, almost six years ago; we went to Lucien in New York and at the bar, he ordered a "Maker's Mark on the rocks" and I followed suit, not even sure what it was--I thought it was a kind of cocktail; needless to say, if I'd been more sober that night, I'd be engaged to Ryan Gosling today) and when he orders a Manhattan he usually orders a Maker's Manhattan.

The drink works like this: in a large cocktail shaker, stir 2 ounces whiskey, 1 ounce Martini Sweet Vermouth and 2 dashes of Angostura bitters with ice and strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with a cherry or, according to the book: "Three brandied cherries on a pick." [Obviously you can double, triple or quadruple the amounts if you're making this cocktail for a crowd. Because it's stirred, you really can't overcrowd your shaker.]

That's all there is to a Manhattan, a good choice for your next holiday gathering. It goes particularly well with chopped liver.