By Julia Stacey Reilly
When I was barely out of my teens, I went with a group of friends to Manhattan in New York City to celebrate New Year’s Eve. We hopped on the Long Island Railroad and 45 minutes later arrived at Penn Station. Someone knew someone with an apartment in midtown where we partied until about 11 p.m. then planned to walk a few blocks to Times Square where the famous ball drops for the countdown to the new year. Exiting the apartment building, we were swept into a riptide of bodies. It was difficult to keep our little band together as the throng surged in the direction of Times Square. Several blocks from our destination the crowd became immobile and however hard we tried; we were unable to squeeze our way through. Instead of witnessing the dropping of the New Year’s ball, we welcomed the new year on a random city street with thousands of strangers on a cold winter night.
In the years I played in a band, we always had a gig on New Year’s Eve. From funky bars with my rockabilly band, to catering halls with a wedding band, to restaurants as a duo with my future husband, New Year’s Eve was always the best night to gig because it paid at least double the going rate. One year I was very excited to get a call to play the Rainbow Room! The Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Center is a fabulously swanky restaurant where high society and celebrities dine while perched 65 stories above the city. Unfortunately, our gig turned out to be at the Rainbow Room in Brooklyn, which was a quiet little neighborhood restaurant and bar, but the pay was good just the same.
In more recent years, we enjoyed celebrating New Year’s Eve by hosting a get-together of a few friends in our Tiki Lounge. While Dick Clark’s (later Ryan Seacrest’s) Rockin’ New Year’s Eve played in the background, we snacked on charcuterie and appetizers and welcomed the New Year with Manhattan cocktails as an ode to “the city that never sleeps” that has had such a powerful impact on our lives.
The Manhattan cocktail traces back to the late 1800s and its origin at New York City’s Manhattan Club. The original recipe has remained largely unchanged, however, while the traditional version uses rye whiskey, with its spicy, peppery notes, many prefer the touch of sweetness that bourbon has to offer.
Manhattan Cocktail Recipe
Ingredients:
- 2 ounces rye whiskey
- 1 ounce sweet vermouth
- 2 dashes Angostura bitters
- Maraschino cherry for garnish
Steps:
- Add the rye whiskey, sweet vermouth, and bitters into a mixing glass with ice and stir until well-chilled.
- Strain into a coupe glass.
- Garnish with a cherry.
The Amaro Manhattan substitutes sweet vermouth with Amaro. This is a great variation if you’re not a fan of sweet vermouth. Amaro is a distilled Italian liqueur made with a proprietary blend of botanicals and consumed as an aperitif/digestif. The Amaro CioCiaro that we are using has aromas of campfire, cedar, and wood smoke. The campfire theme follows through on the palate with the flavor of barbecue charred meat. Hints of lemon rind, licorice, and coffee are revealed on the finish. The amount of Amaro can be adjusted for different brands and individual tastes.
Amaro Manhattan Recipe
Ingredients:
- 2 ounces bourbon
- 1/2 to 1 ounce Amaro
- Dash of Angostura bitters (Orange bitters also work well, if available)
- Maraschino cherries
- Orange wedge
Directions:
- Place a couple of cherries and the orange wedge in a glass and muddle gently.
- Add ice to the glass, preferably a large cube or ball.
- Add bourbon, Amaro, bitters, and stir.
The Waldorf cocktail is a variation of the Manhattan with the addition of Absinthe. It was created at the Waldorf Hotel (now the Waldorf-Astoria) in the early 20th century. Absinthe was banned from the United States from 1912 to 2007 due to the belief that the high-proof green spirit made with botanicals such as grande wormwood, green anise, and sweet fennel, was hallucinogenic. Not to worry, the product called Absente, marketed as “absinthe refined”, is made with southern wormwood, a safer genetic cousin of grande wormwood.
Waldorf Cocktail Recipe
Ingredients:
- Absinthe, to rinse
- 2 ounces rye whiskey
- 3/4 ounce sweet vermouth
- 3 dashes Angostura bitters
- Lemon twist garnish (optional)
Steps:
- Rinse the inside of a chilled coupe glass with a small amount of Absinthe and set aside.
- Add rye whiskey, sweet vermouth, and bitters to a mixing glass with ice and stir until well-chilled.
- Strain into the Absinthe-coated coupe glass.
- Garnish with a lemon twist, if desired.
Special end-of-the-year thanks to Carmen and Nancy Marotta for introducing us to Cindy and Bob Fertsch at Shore Local and to the valuable pros like Chet Malloy at Circle Liquor Store for helping us stock our wine and spirits. Cheers to a happy New Year!
Julia Stacey Reilly is a published author and blogger. Her book, Boozy Lifestyle, is available on Amazon and her blog can be found at BoozyLifestyle.com. She is the official Tony Mart sommelier and has earned a WSET Award in Wines. She can be reached at BoozyLifestyle@gmail.com.
