I thought I made this one up, but other online presences have naturally bridged the gap, as I did, between Black Manhattan and Martinez. Still, mine goes the extra distance by using an oaked gin instead of regular old gin and I think it comes closer to a perfect mash of the two drinks.

The Martinez appeared in the late nineteenth century and is one of those cocktails that no one can really lay claim to. If you dont already know, it is a direct descendent of the Manhattan and predates the martini. Make a Manhattan with your choice of gin instead of rye and add a dash of your favorite maraschino liqueur. The gin swappage I am sure came about because a bartender ran out of whiskey or was too drunk to notice they put gin in. This sort of thing happens all the time…es

The Black Manhattan, however, is credited to Todd Smith, a bartender, who came up with it in 2005 and served it at the Bourbon & Branch Bar in San Francisco. An easy enough recipe:

Black Manhattan (original recipe)

2 oz. Bourbon

.5 oz. Averna Amaro

2 Dashes Housemade Coffee Cherry Bitters

A couple of notes here. Back in the early days, rye was more difficult to find than it is now, hence the bourbon, but the drink (like most) is better with rye because it adds a component of spice. There is no mention of a cherry as garnish in anything I can find. There is also no mention of the brand of bourbon he used.

You must use Averna Amaro for a Black Manhattan but you dont have to use it. Does that make sense? The cool thing about Amaro is you can swap different brands in your favorite drinks and they will be vastly different because no two amari are made the same. Think: Paper Plane with Montenegro instead of Amaro Nonino or a Black Manhattan with St. Agrestis. A Bitter Giuseppe with Fernet Vallet. Yada yada. So on and so forth.

I think the reason why there is only half an ounce of Averna in there is because the U.S. palate was still growing accustomed to Amaro. I consider Averna to be an intoductory amaro but even still it does have a bitter and spicy edge to it compared to its sweeter and

My personal adaption of the drink:

Black Manhattan

2 oz. Bonded Rye (Either Rittenhouse or Overholt)

1 oz. Averna Amaro

4 Dashes Housemade Orange Bitters (From a Japanese dasher)

Orange peel expression to garnish.

I enjoy stronger spirit backbones in cocktails but also realize 100 proof bonded may not be the comfort zone for everyone. A suitable solution is to use a softer rye like Michters which clocks in at an odd 84.8 proof. To me, Michters makes the best and most flavorful rye under 100 proof on the planet but I am also not a huge rye afficianado. I love it but stick with the few I know. Wild Turkey 101 is damn good as well as their Rare Breed barrel proof series (112 proof) and Russells Reserve is outstanding (Jimmy Russell was the master distiller at Wild Turkey for 60+ years. Yeah, you read that right…His son, Eddie, created Russells Reserve as tribute.).

Make your own orange bitters. It takes little effort but the end product is tremendous. For whatever reason, store bought orange bitters suck. You can spend roughly the same amount of money, wait two weeks, and you will have a enough bitters to last ten years. They dont go bad.

My version of the Black Martinez came about due to a Vermont product, one Barr Hill Tom Cat Gin. A barrel aged version of their flagship regular gin. Barr Hill hails from Montpelier, VT (The capital). They use three ingredients for their gin. Grain, juniper, and a touch of honey. Its an exceptional gin and can be drunk on its own neat and does very well in stirred cocktails. We ran a Martinez with it for some time and now will add this to our classic side of the menu.

Black Martinez

2 oz. Barr Hill Tom Cat

1 oz. Averna Amaro

Barspoon Maraschino (Leopolds)

4 Dashes Housemade Orange Bitters (Japanese Dasher)

Orange Peel Expression

This would be delicious with Meletti in a full ounce or split based with the Averna. You can also do a flip flop. Most call it a session Manhattan where you go two ounces sweet vermouth/amaro one ounce whiskey/gin. Where it becomes sweeter but less boozy. I call it a switcheroo. An ultra famous one being the Okie Dokie Artichokie.

Special thanks to this blog post for the Black Manhattan info.

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