The Bushwick, a Manhattan/Brooklyn Riff That’s Maybe Just an Old-School Brooklyn

The more classic cocktails change, the more they stay the same?

In last week’s newsletter, we looked at multiple ways to make a Brooklyn.

The first was a Manhattan-adjacent cocktail consisting of rye whiskey, dry vermouth, maraschino liqueur, and Amer Picon — or, since you can’t easily purchase Amer Picon in the United States, an accessible substitute like Amaro CioCiaro. 

The second was a historically informed version of the Brooklyn, unearthed by cocktail historian David Wondrich, in which the Brooklyn consisted of equal parts rye whiskey and sweet vermouth, plus small portions of maraschino liqueur and Amer Picon. As it turned out, the Brooklyn that many modern cocktail bartenders had learned was based on a mistakenly transcribed recipe: The pre-Prohibition original actually contained sweet vermouth rather than dry. 

When I first encountered this story of cocktail revival error, I found it interesting partly as a sort of journalistic tale of sourcing/quotation mistakes and the ways that historical games of telephone can change classic cocktails over time. But it also seemed to me that it put another cocktail in a new light. 

As I wrote in last week’s newsletter, many of the modern Manhattan riffs named for New York neighborhoods are arguably better understood as Brooklyn riffs, with four ingredients rather than three, and/or a slightly larger total volume than the three-ounce pre-dilution standard for Manhattans. 

Among my favorite of those modern Manhattan/Brooklyn/New York-neighborhood riffs is the Bushwick, created by Phil Ward, whose work even casual readers of this newsletter should know by now.

The key to Ward’s Bushwick? Swapping the dry vermouth of the (historically incorrect) Brooklyn…for sweet vermouth. 

The Bushwick is not proportioned the same way as Wondrich’s old-time Brooklyn, but Ward’s Bushwick is, in some sense, just an old-time Brooklyn with a more modern structure. Indeed, the ratio for Ward’s Bushwick is the same as my favorite ratio for a Brooklyn. It’s just that his drink uses sweet vermouth instead of dry. 

So Ward’s Bushwick was, almost certainly inadvertently, just an accidental stumbling upon the collection of ingredients originally in a Brooklyn.

This may explain why this rich, sweet, complex, subtly bitter, deeply satisfying cocktail is probably my favorite Brooklyn riff — it’s basically a modern rendition of what a Brooklyn was originally supposed to be. 

Note, since it will come up again soon, that this is a 3 ¼ ounce cocktail, and thus yet another bullet point in the case for the superiority — or at least the general excellence — of 3 ¼ ounce stirred cocktails. 

Bushwick 

• ¼ ounce Amaro CioCiaro (since you probably won’t be able to find Amer Picon)

• ¼ ounce Maraschino liqueur (Luxardo)

• ¾ ounce sweet vermouth (Carpano Antica Formula)

• 2 ounces rye (Rittenhouse) 

INSTRUCTIONS 

1. Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass. 

2. Add ice, then stir until thoroughly chilled. 

3. Strain into a coupe. No garnish.

Note on difficult-to-find ingredients: Like the Brooklyn, the official recipe for the Bushwick calls for Amer Picon. But since Picon is difficult-verging-on-impossible to obtain in the United States, Ward has recommended Amaro Lucano as a substitute. If you can’t find or don’t have the Lucano, I recommend Amaro CioCiaro, which has a sharper orange note and is slightly less earthy/root-forward. (In fact, with all respect to Ward, I personally prefer the CioCiaro as a substitute here, so that’s how I printed this recipe.) Bigallet China-China Amer also works, although it’s somewhat softer than either of the other options. More common bitter liqueurs like Cynar, Campari, and Aperol will work in a pinch, but understand that they have quite divergent flavor profiles, so if you use them, you’ll be creating a substantially different drink.