Rhymes With Orange: A Smoky Manhattan

Name: Rhymes With Orange: A Smoky Manhattan
Yield: 10
Cuisine: American

RECIPE: Reprinted with permission from The Bartender’s Manifesto by Toby Maloney, Emma Janzen, and the bartenders of The Violet Hour; copyright © 2022.
Published by Clarkson Potter, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC.

Photo: Zachary James Johnston

April 05, 2023

For a Manhattan with a bit more complexity, mix up Toby Maloney’s Rhymes With Orange, from his book A Bartender’s Manifesto. The smoky Manhattan possesses “depths that stretch fathoms deep” thanks to a bit of peaty scotch and the layering of orange notes with Carpano Antica, Ramozzotti, and orange bitters.

Ingredients

2 oz. rye whiskey (Maloney uses Wild Turkey 101)
1/8 oz. scotch (Maloney uses Laphroaig single malt)
1 oz. Carpano Antica vermouth
1/2 oz. Ramazzotti amaro
17 drops orange bitters

Tools:mixing glass, jigger, barspoon
Glass:double old fashioned
Garnish:orange peel

Preparation

Add a chunk of ice to a glass to chill. Set aside. Fill a mixing glass three-quarters of the way with ice and add the orange bitters, sliding them down the side so they end up at the bottom, not stuck to ice near the top. Stack the vermouth and amaro in the jigger and add them to the mixing glass before adding the rye and scotch.

Stir and taste the mixture. For more smoke, add more scotch to taste and stir. Strain into the glass over the ice chunk. Garnish. To amplify the smoky notes even further, flame the orange peel instead of only expressing it before inserting in the glass.