I was in the mood for a Manhattan, or at least something like one. That is where the Black Market Manhattan (or my version of it) was born. The concept by Death & Co. seems to be an attempt to make a Manhattan without rye and changing a few other ingredients and still pull off something nearly like a Manhattan--hence the black market moniker. It's as if the normal ingredients are unavailable, either because of legislation or by pure happenstance, but a crafty bartender still comes through with a satisfactory knock off.
So Death & Co. use a wheat whiskey called Bernheim. I actually don't have that, so my rationale is the latter necessity. I chose corn whiskey as my base--three of them in fact. A big part of the original recipe is orange tea infused sweet vermouth. I, instead, went with orange and tea infused whiskies. It was a good call and one that mimicked rich barrel aging of whiskey by using only unaged spirits. I supplied the fruit and vanilla of MurLarkey orange whiskey and the bitter tannin of their three tea whiskey and only a hint of their cinnamon whiskey to round out a cocktail that is almost like the real thing.
- 2 oz. MurLarkey orange whiskey
- 1/2 oz. MurLarkey three tea whiskey
- 1/2 oz. Cocchi Dopo Teatro sweet vermouth
- 1 tsp. MurLarkey cinnamon whiskey
- 1 dash Angostura bitters
- lemon twist garnish
Combine liquid ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Twist lemon zest over the glass and drop it in.
