To Understand the Manhattan, Make a Manhattan Flight
Plus! A peaty, earthy, coffee-inflected Rob Roy riff.
Over the last several weeks, we’ve looked at a number of Manhattan-esque drinks — some quite close to the original, some not very Manhattan-y at all. I hope that, in addition to trying some delicious cocktails, you’ve also learned something about the form and structure of the Manhattan, and how that form and structure can be adapted and modified.
For an even better grasp of the nuances, however, I want you to try an exercise: Don’t just make one Manhattan — make several, in variations, and taste them in sequence. This week, I want you to make a Manhattan flight for yourself and some friends.
I specify friends because they are, in fact, an important part of the equation. Let me back up a bit to explain.
When I started this newsletter in late 2020, it was, in part, an attempt to find a way to share drinks with other people during a time when that was exceedingly difficult.
You see, what I’d discovered was that I liked making cocktails. And I liked learning about cocktails. And I liked drinking cocktails.
But what I really liked was making cocktails for other people and then drinking them together. Hence the name of the newsletter: I want it to feel at least a little like we’re drinking cocktails together. Making something wonderful for someone else, and sharing their enjoyment, is life’s greatest pleasure.
As it turns out, these desires are all complimentary. That’s because making cocktails for other people — and consuming them at a friendly get-together — is a very good way to get to know cocktails better. That’s because more people means more drinks to make. And that, in turn, means more drinks to taste. That makes it much easier to taste a related array of cocktail variations in quick succession.
Just as importantly, a small group of friends offers you access to the tastes and opinions of others. That will give you sensory information you may not have picked up on yourself, and a window into the ways that other people taste and perceive drinks. It will help you build a library of impressions beyond your own.
Better yet, since these will presumably be people you like and enjoy getting to know, you’ll learn something about your friends as well.
So what I want you to do is gather a small group of friends, or even just a single companion, and taste a flight of Manhattans and Manhattan riffs — three or four iterations on the same drink, chosen to emphasize some specific element or structural quality. Yes, I’m suggesting that you throw a small cocktail party.
We’ll walk through the basics of setup and preparation, as well as multiple options for designing a flight. And then, at the very end, there will be another simple, delicious, smoky, coffee-inflected Manhattan variation that you can use as part of a flight or just make on its own.
Tasting Cocktails vs. Drinking Cocktails
Occasionally, people ask me about my tasting process. How is that I can have opinions not only about so many different cocktails, but about slight variations on so many different drinks? Am I just drinking cocktails all day long? And — not to be too personal — but is that…maybe, uh, not good?