According to Jim Meehan at Food and Wine, the earliest known printed recipe for the Manhattan was published in O. H. Byron's 1884 Modern Bartenders' Guide. The classic Manhattan calls for rye whiskey and a maraschino cherry. I use bourbon and a brandied cherry; you can also replace the cherry with a half-round slice of orange. For a “Perfect Manhattan”, use 50/50 dry and sweet vermouth.

Yield: 1 Manhattan cocktail

Ingredients

• 2 ounces bourbon or rye whiskey

• 1 ounce sweet vermouth

• 1 tsp. brandy from your jar of brandied cherries (optional)

• 2 dashes of Angostura bitters

• Ice

• 1 brandied or maraschino cherry, for garnish

Preparation:

Fill a pint glass with ice. Add the bourbon or rye, vermouth and bitters and stir well. Strain into a chilled coupe glass and garnish with the cherry or a half-round slice of orange.

Alternatively, if you don’t have a coupe glass, after you mix the ingredients, pour into any smaller-size glass with or without the ice. The glass doesn’t make a well-mixed cocktail taste better, but different shaped glasses do give more visual appeal to your mixed drinks.

Adapted from: Jim Meehan @ https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/manhattan-cocktails-2009