In the 1880’s, the Manhattan cocktail became all the vogue in the young nation’s premier drinking establishments. While this mainstay cocktail never truly left the American vernacular, it has recently enjoyed a new obsession, coinciding with both the cocktail and the whiskey boom of the last 25 years. But where did the Manhattan really come from? It’s one of the most storied cocktails in history, probably because many of its origin stories are really just tall tales…

     The most accepted (and yet the most disprovable) belief is that the cocktail was an original invention of a Dr. Iaian Marshall of the Manhattan Club, legendary commune of Democrats. The new libation would be served at a banquet in 1874, thrown by Lady Randolph (Churchill’s mother) in honor of newly elected Gov. Samuel Tilden. However, given the timing of the event, Lady Randolph would give birth to young Winston mere weeks later, suggesting she was unlikely to be sojourning in New York throwing lavish parties. 

     “Professor” Jerry Thomas’ 1876 Bar-Tender’s Guide condensed the two main sections of his original work, 1862’s How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon Vivant’s Companion. The reprint included a recipe for the Manhattan calling for Rye whiskey and Bokers bitters.  

    Or was the Manhattan a creation of a New York bartender named Black in a bar on Broadway near Houston sometime in the 1860’s, as recorded by William F. Mulhall in Valentine’s Manual of Old New York, 1923. In his book Punch, Dave Wondrich writes of some interesting evidence in support of this story, searching the city records of the distant past, and finding a man by the name of George Black operating a pub called the Manhattan Inn, below Houston and not far from Mulhall’s description. 

     Regardless of the many ideas of where this cocktail first originated, it has become one of the staples of any cocktail bar.  Formulaic in it’s simple yet elegant design, it is the perfect intersection of three ingredients. Perhaps no other cocktail in the bartender’s repertoire has spawned more riffs, spins, and variations. Simultaneously in one cocktail, the machismo of the whiskey drinker can co-exist with the experimental whimsy of the bon vivant. It summons the image of the Robber Baron of this nation’s golden age. J.P. Morgan himself was well-known to enjoy a Manhattan every day at the close of trading. It’s a cocktail that any bartender should be able to make, but in the hands of an expert, it can elevate and truly work wonders.