Regular viewers will know that I'm rather a fan of the Manhattan and most of its
many variations, and this is no exception!
The Black Manhattan substitutes amaro Averna in for the sweet vermouth in the classic.
Despite its rather foreboding colour is actually on the sweeter
and more accessible end of the amaro category and if you're not sure what
that is then you should definitely check out our video on them here.
This twist is credited to a bartender named Todd Smith who had it on the list in 2005
while working at Bourbon and Branch in San Francisco- funnily enough because most recipes
call for rye- but you can definitely substitute in bourbon if you prefer.
I'd just stick to something with a decent rye content for the spice so
Bulleit Bourbon or Buffalo Trace would be good options.
Averna is a Sicilian amaro whose recipe is apparently unchanged since 1868,
although I'm not really sure how you would verify that.
As I mentioned, it is on the sweeter side so you get lots of juicy orange notes with
kind of liquorice and caramel, as well as your soft herbal and bitter notes.
This drink really changes depending on which ratio you use, so if you do stick
to the classic Manhattan proportions of two parts whiskey to one part modifier
it's a really ballsy drink as the whiskey and the amaro both very much make themselves known.
Dialling back the Averna so it's more like three parts whiskey to one part of Averna
like I'm doing here provides something a little bit more like a regular Manhattan,
because obviously vermouth's not quite as kind of full-on as the as the amaro, so you've got the
whiskey still very much being the star of the show but with an Oscar-worthy supporting act.
That said, once you're totally over to the dark side and you just love drinking amari neat,
this is actually a fun one to flip entirely so you can do two
parts of Averna to one part whiskey. It's a little bit lower ABV than your other ratios
but stiffer and drier than just drinking Averna on its own.
If you don't have one or indeed either of the bitters then don't stress, they do help to dry out
and lengthen the cocktail but Averna has plenty going on itself so you don't miss them too much.
The garnish is generally just a cherry, but if you do have a lemon or orange to hand
then just giving a little spritz of oils over the top will help to
brighten it all up and bring out those citrus notes in the amaro.
First we're gonna get our garnish ready. So I do happen to have some lemons here,
so just gonna take a little coin, it really doesn't have to be very big, off the side of
that and obviously given that it's not actually going in the drink it doesn't really matter what
it looks like and or even the pith is on there. I mean there's not much on there anyway but it's
not getting dropped in so the bitterness doesn't, isn't going to kind of affect the drink too much,
and then just make sure that you have your cherries to hand.
These are some lovely ones that we got sent over by one of our viewers,
so thank you very much Ricardo, glad to actually get to use these finally, and then we're going to
go in with a dash each of our bitters, so one dash of orange bitters, one dash of angostura bitters.
20 mls of Averna.
Honestly I think one of the reasons that I like amaro so much is just like
all the bottles are so beautiful, they're these really kind of very,
yeah regal looking, almost quite 70's block letters and things.
And then 60 mils of whichever American whiskey you're planning on using.
Before we fill with ice a quick reminder that you can find this
and all of the cocktails we've ever made at withCaraDevine.com there are
even downloadable recipes and lots of pretty pictures to get you salivating,
but for now we've got a drink to chill so I better get some ice in this glass.
Delicious.
Now we're just gonna hold your julep strainer back.
This is usually served up, same as a Manhattan, you can absolutely serve it on the rocks if you
prefer, and it's usually in a coupe glass but I just quite like this little fat boy whiskey glass,
we're gonna go for that today.
Give your lemon a quick little fold over the top,
and that can get chucked away.
And then we're just gonna pop a little cherry,
in the bottom, nice little surprise for you to find at the end of your drink
when it's thoroughly soaked through.
The Black Manhattan, so now you know.
Give this one a go. I mean it's about as black as the White Negroni is white to be honest,
it's still basically the same color as a regular
Manhattan but we'll see if it tastes a little darker.
I do really like that yeah that little kind of lift that you get from the oils,
and you can kind of really smell the amaro backing that up as well like that quite lifted citrus.
It's really yummy, I mean especially if you may be generally, like funnily enough, as much as
an amaro is bitter, the up front kind of quite like caramel sweetness is really there as well,
so it actually makes it a little bit more, to me actually a little bit more approachable
maybe than you know, some Manhattans where the vermouth, as much as it is a sweet vermouth,
it's just like a little bit kind of thinner not quite as present so the whole cocktail
is a little bit drier. This is, I know I keep saying the word, but it's really quite juicy.
And then yeah you've got that that nice kind of liquorice and herbal note as well coming through
at the end and with the bitters in there too it definitely goes on goes on for days.
It's a cocktail with legs that's for sure.
I like this one