This Brown Sugar Cider Manhattan cocktail uses spirits you can find at Pennsylvania’s Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores, but feel free to swap out the ingredients for liquors of your choice if you want to mix it up. It’s perfect for fall days or winter nights, with warming Evan Williams Black Label and the unique vanilla notes of Carpano Antica Formula vermouth. If you like this drink, you can also try our Apple Cider Manhattan Game Day Cocktail.
Why is This Cocktail Called a Manhattan?
Legend has it that the Manhattan got its name from the Manhattan Club, an exclusive spot in, well, Manhattan. Some say that Iain Marshall created it for Lady Randolph Churchill (mother of Winston!) who was hosting a banquet at the Manhattan Club. But this story is somewhat up for debate, because she was pregnant when she hosted that banquet, so unless she was ignoring health advice, that probably wasn’t the case. Nonetheless, it likely did originate in Manhattan, as another purported origin story is that it comes from a bar on Houston Street downtown. But the drink is popular around the world, including on the remote German island of Föhr, where, in a bizarre and delightful piece of trivia, it’s the drink of choice at every bar for local gatherings after German expatriates that returned to the Frisian islands brought back a love of New York bar culture.
Brown Sugar Cider Manhattan Cocktail
Description
A smoky and satisfying cocktail to warm up on New Year’s Eve
Ingredients
- 2 oz Evan Williams Black Label Straight Bourbon
- 1 oz Carpano Antica Formula
- 2 oz apple cider
- 1 oz brown sugar syrup
- Cinnamon sticks, for garnish
- Sanding sugar, for garnish
Instructions
- Rim a rocks glass with sanding sugar; set aside.
- Combine first four ingredients in a mixing glass filled with ice.
- Stir and strain into prepared glass filled with fresh ice.
- Garnish with cinnamon sticks.
Recipe by Fine Wine & Good Spirits
Cocktail by Star Laliberte
Styling by Anna Franklin
Photography by Dave Bryce
Subscribe to TABLE Magazine‘s print edition
