I had almost given up on Manhattans, until an awesome bartender made me one with Black Maple Hill Bourbon and Carpano Antica...

For our use: Maker's Mark bourbon, Carpano Antica sweet vermouth. Served on the rocks.

Irish-Scots Manhattan variation: Use Irish whiskey (Jameson) and a heavy rinse (small puddle) of Islay Scotch (Lagavulin 16), plus a 3rd dash of Angostura. (Editor's note: posted on behalf of jughead to consolidate Manhattan recipes.)

Finest kind. I prefer to make it with a half and half mix of Noilly Pratt Dry and Carpano Antica sweet vermouth, 1:4 with a mix of ryes (Pepper's 1776 and Old Overholt is nice) with orange and angostura bitters, and a lemon twist as well as the cherry.

Have you tried one w/ Maker's 46? That, Carpano Antica, and Bittercube Cherry Bark Vanilla Bitters makes the most perfect Bourbon Manhattan

Tonight I tried a Perfect Manhattan with Bulleit Rye, Vermouth del Professore Rosso and Vermouth la Canellese along with one dash of Angostura and one dash of Peychaud's. Very nice, indeed.

Tequila variant - Substitute 2oz reposado tequila for the whisky, and 2 dashes of Scrappy's Firewater Tincture for the bitters.

I like to use a 1:1:1 ratio

I would think that Cocchi Americano would be a much better substitution for the (not made anymore) Kina Lillet. Bonal is very sweet vermouth meets Oloroso Sherry, and not only would you lose the color of the drink, but the flavors might be too heavy.

Right you are. Fixed.

I've always been a 1.5 gin to 1 vodka--keep the lillet or cocchi to the 1/4 suggested

A very nice cocktail, sophisticated-tasting...and a great way to get soused quickly!

Our preferred variation is:
21⁄4 oz Gin
3⁄4 oz Vodka
1⁄2 oz Kina L'Avion D'Or OR Cocchi Americano
1 twst Lemon zest (as garnish)

The current Lillet doesn't have the amount of quinine that it used to in the 1960s. These two substitutes, we think, make a better drink. One of these, you want to go climb a tree; two, you couldn't climb a tree if you had to.

I usually use a 3-to-1 ratio of cognac to Crème de Menthe, such as 2 1/4 oz Cognac to 3/4 oz of Crème de Menthe.

William Schmidt has a similar combination of Cognac, crème de menthe, and gum syrup under a different name (The Judge). The Stinger itself was +/- 1910 with the earliest reference that I have being Jacques Straub 1914. I'll parse the Oxford Companion entry later.

I like a slightly different ratio of 2 oz blended scotch and 1/2 oz Drambue. Combine in old fashioned glass, add ice, stir.

Dave Stolz's recipe (which is 2 oz Scotch and 1/2 oz Drambuie) calls for including a wide lemon peel and one dash of Angostura bitters. Muddle the lemon zest, Drambuie, and bitters to express the lemon oil. Add a large ice chunk or two to three ice cubes then add the Scotch. Stir briskly to blend and chill.

Very nice.

http://www.smallscreennetwork.com/video/758/home_bar_basics_rusty_nail/

I reduced the scotch from 2-1/2 to 2 oz to make a more reasonably-sized drink. Robert Hess calls for 1-1/2, but I think that works for a bar where the amount of spirit is controlled. 2-1/2 oz into the mixing glass should be sufficient. I do like the idea of a lemon twist to accent the honey in the Drambuie and a dash of Angostura for complexity.

<br />It's really unfair to rate this drink. Use the same vermouth, but use an Islay vs a Highland scotch, and I guarantee you'll get two different rating scores. Likewise, you can use the same scotch but use two different high-quality vermouths and I guarantee you'll get two dififerent rating scores. There's no answer to the dilemma, I'm just bringing it to you're attention.

I suppose you can make the same comment about any drink, but the Rob Roy is particularly sensitive to this issue, simply because Islay scotches are so incredibly different in taste from the other Scotches, that it will profoundly affect rating scores. I hate the peated Scotches typical of Islay, and I love the incredibly smooth and refreshing taste of a Scotch from Hightland. What to do? I haven't a clue! Do you?

The Rob Roy tends to be made with an un-peated blended scotch. Most cocktails that don't specify are this way. The template for this particular cocktail's pretty forgiving & peat can be tasty here. But people who order this would be extremely unlikely to get it made with a peated scotch unless they asked for it.

Would use 1/2 oz of pure cranberry juice (like from Lakewood), for bitterness and red color, NOT the cranberry juice COCKTAIL from Ocean Spray et al. (Cranberry juice cocktail is mostly apple juice.)

The Cosmo was balanced around cranberry cocktail. I think pure cranberry juice is a good addition (and an excellent ingredient in its own right), but a vodka daisy bittered with cranberry is a different drink.

Tried with: 1 3/4 oz Lemon infused gin+ Fat 3/4 oz organic Cranberry juice ( unsweetened)+ Fat 3/4oz Lime juice+ 2/3 oz grand marnier+ 1/5 agave.

Good enough to make again.

Dale Degroff version: 1½ ounces citron vodka, ½ ounce Cointreau, ¼ ounce fresh lime juice, 1 ounce cranberry juice, Flamed orange peel, for garnish.

Also very good with aquavit or bourbon.

With gin this resembles a Red Snapper, though I think that works better as a lowball, 2 oz gin, 2 oz tomato etc., pimola garnish.

classic but hard to get proportions just right. Also Bloody Caeser is a bit better

Any recommendations on appropriate tomato juice brand/description? I tried this with some Campbell's canned juice and it was one of the saltiest things I have ever had, it just ruined the flavor. Way too much salt, the juice has 980 mg sodium per 12 oz can, so with chloride added, it would be about 0.7% NaCl. Seawater is about 3.5%.

Originally posted by bschneier. Of several variations, this one has been adopted as the reference side car and is included in the Goodies > Quickstart Cocktails > Classic Cocktails.

Also there's Joaquin Simo's version :

2.0 oz Pierre Ferrand 1840 Cognac

.75 oz Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao

.75 oz lemon juice

1 barspoon 2:1 Demerara sugar syrup (how much is a "barspoon" anyway?)

I made Difford's super-easy "Grand Sidecar" a couple weeks ago and was instantly a big fan! Replaces the cognac and Cointreau with just GrandMa since it's already a blend of cognac and orange liqueur.

https://www.diffordsguide.com/cocktails/recipe/892/grand-sidecar

2 oz Grand Marnier

1 oz Fresh Lemon Juice

That's it! Shake, strain, up, orange peel garnish, enjoy! Try one, it's so good! 

Oh, and death to sugar-rimmed glasses!

As written, this drink is really dry - 3 oz of 80+ proof spirit and some lemon juice. You need the sugar rim to hope to have any sense of balance. Thanks,  Zachary

Made 2:1:1 with Torres brandy and PF Dry Curacao. I'm not a person who needs sweetness in drinks, but I think with the dry curacao a small splash of simple would be a good addition or make it according to the recipe above with slightly more orange liqueur.

This version was originally posed by bschneier. It has been adopted as a Quickstart Classic Cocktail.

According to The Gentleman's Companion vol. 2 by Charles H. Baker Jr. (1939)
"Doctors still thought that a lot of yellow jacket malaria cases came from drinking water and swamp mists. The couldn't turn off the swamp water mists but they knew that diluted alcohol was a disinfectant agent against germs. So they put a little rum in their boiled drinking water. This tasted pretty bad so some bright citizen squeezed a lime into the thing, and added a little sugar to modify the acid. Ice made from distilled water took the topical heat off the thing. The 2 originators were my friends Harry E. Stout, now domiciled in Englewood, NJ and a mining engineer associate Mr. Jennings Cox. Time: Summer of 1898. Place: Daiquiri, a village near Santiago and the Bacardi plant, Cuba. Hence the name "Daiquiri."

Morgenthaler says the best recipe (which he got from Diffords) is: 2 1/2 oz aged rum, 3/4 oz fresh lime juice, 1/2 oz simple syrup

I've tried many variations on quantities and either aged, light or dark rum. It really just falls into what your personal preferences are. I like the aged and light rum variations with same ratios but at 2oz, 3/4oz and 1/2 oz. Another example is that Robert Hess calls for this ratio but inverts the simple syrup to 3/4oz and lime to 1/2oz. Whether Difford's is the best recipe, again, is a matter of taste. Cheers.

I have been loving this lately as 2 oz Probitas, 1 oz 1:1 cold process simple, 3/4 lime, which is basically Sasha Petraske spec. Thanks,  Zachary

Zachary. You mean 1 oz lime to 3/4 oz simple, right? Because that's the Petraske spec and the same they use at Attaboy etc today. 

Yeah, sorry - I don't have my book and had it flipped in my head. Thanks,  Zachary

When making a Dry Martini with St. George Terroir Gin, I recommend adding a small amount, no more than a quarter ounce, of Clear Creek's Douglas Fir Eau de Vie. One of the Terroir's botanicals is Doug Fir, and the two spirits meld together beautifully with the vermouth to make something redolent of West Coast forests without being overwhelmingly pine-y (your tastes may vary). Grapefruit bitters are a good way to go in this Martini. If Douglas Fir can't be found, the Terroir still makes an excellent, richly herbal Martini on its own.

The 3-1 ratio of gin to dry vermouth along with orange bitters and a lemon peel is the recipe I use. I've seen this particular variant called the "Nick and Nora". Moving on to "which gins" and "which vermouths" could fill pages.

I like this variant from David Wondrich's Imbibe, called Formula #1 (Turf Club). It's a lot sweeter, but I tend to like things on the sweet side.

1.5 oz Old Tom Gin

1.5 oz Italian Vermouth

2-3 dash bitters (I used angostura, but calls for Peruvian)

Gin and Sweet Vermouth with a twist is occasionally known as a "Gin & It".  Not worth making a new recipe, but also delic.

Probably worth mentioning Audrey Sanders' Fitty Fitty Martini (equal parts London Dry and dry vermouth, orange bitters and lemon twist) and Eel Bar's Wet Martini (2:1:1 London Dry, blanc vermouth, and dry vermouth, orange bitters and an expressed orange peel).