30/30, #28: the Uptown Manhattan

You can almost hear the collective eye-roll from San Francisco — the eyes that aren’t rolling back in their heads because of the excesses of Cocktail Week, that is — that I’m finally covering a drink that’s long been a part of the Bay Area craft-cocktail scene (and by “long”, I mean “since earlier this decade”). But cut me some slack — I’m up in Seattle, and if Marcovaldo Dionysos, the drink’s creator, can’t find it in his schedule to come up north every once in a while, then it’s either up to me to work my around to blogging about his drinks for my local readers — both of ’em — or to Boudreau to rip ’em off and stick them on his bar menu.*

Gary Regan wrote about this drink way back in 2003, but at the time I was just a fledgling booze geek and had no idea what Amaro Nonino was; hell, at that point I hadn’t even found orange bitters yet. Ah, youth, and how little of it I recall.

Anyway, details: made for a Maker’s Mark competition, amaro in place of vermouth, etc. Actually, why should I spend the time writing about this drink — here’s Marco on video, I’ll let him explain it:

Got it? In case you missed it, here’s the recipe:

Uptown Manhattan
by Marcovaldo Dionysos

• 2 ounces Maker’s Mark bourbon
• 3/4 ounce Amaro Nonino (the print recipe says 1/2, but Marco says 3/4 in the video, so…)
• 2 dashes orange bitters (Regan’s #6)
• 1 barspoon cherry brandy from brandied cherries [being brandied cherry-less, I subbed Cherry Heering]

Stir well with ice & strain into chilled cocktail glass. Cut a piece of orange peel about the size of a quarter; positioning the flame from a match in front of the peel, give a squeeze and spray the orange oil through the flame onto the surface of the drink (it’s easier than it sounds — watch the video to see what I mean). Garnish with a cherry.

* Okay, that was a gratuitous and totally unwarranted slam at Jamie, who does not steal Marco’s drinks and place them on his bar menus as his own — that was all a simple misunderstanding for which I take full responsibility and humbly apologize. Really, I did it — for the full story, go to Tini Bigs and ask Jamie to explain it himself, perhaps over a Ginger Rogers.

This drink is part of 30/30, a series of 30 drinks in 30 days — or as much as I can keep up before collapsing in a weary, booze-addled heap.