The Perfect Manhattan

A traditional Perfect Manhattan consists of the following:

2 ounces rye whiskey
1/2 ounce sweet vermouth
1/2 ounce dry vermouth
a dash of bitters

All of which you swirl with ice in a cocktail shaker, pour into an appropriate glass, garnish with a maraschino cherry, and imbibe.

The Perfect Manhattan differs from the Manhattan in that it includes dry vermouth as well as sweet: in my experience, a Perfect Manhattan is a vastly better cocktail than a Manhattan. When we made Manhattans, we were considerably overwhelmed with the strange, sickly taste of sweet vermouth, and note that we followed traditional proportion to the letter. I felt like I was gagging on an elderly gentleman's cologne. My husband said, "This is what you drink when you're down on your luck." I said, "This is what you drink when you're trying to forget a World War."

When we made our Perfect Manhattans the other night, we used Bourbon whiskey, in a nod to the film Some Like It Hot, which has a scene on a train where Marilyn Monroe and about twenty other blondes decide to improvise Manhattans, much to the consternation of Jack Lemmon's character, who is trying to make it with Marilyn Monroe despite the fact that he is in drag. Highlights of the scene (from a cocktail maker's point of view) include: one of the orchestra members shouting, "Hey, easy on the vermouth!" which is excellent advice, and Tony Curtis, who is also in drag, exclaiming, "Maraschino cherries?" in his Bronxite accent.

Apparently a Bronx is also a cocktail. We will explore it, and post about it in the near future. Next on our list of cocktails to share: Death In The Afternoon.