The only trouble with sticking big wedges of orange in cocktails is what to do with the rest of the orange.

You face a similar dilemma when you find the sharpest knife in the kitchen to peel a nice whack of zest off said fruit so you can have a ‘twist’ in your Old Fashioned.

Obviously, the rest of the orange goes in the fridge where it sits overnight drying out so that when you go to eat it in the morning it’s not the sort of gear the man from Del Monte would give the nod. Even stripping a bit of zest off seems to ruin an orange, rendering it like one of the Golden Girls in a matter of hours.

Thankfully, however, my middle child has taken a notion for ‘big oranges’ as opposed to those easy peelers we love buying by the net-full to ensure our offspring are getting requisite vitamin C of a day.

Of course, with so many big oranges lying in the fridge there’s now a constant temptation to get the bag of ice out and treat myself to a little something from the cocktail book Santa brought me.


There's so many cocktails, but only so many units one can allow oneself while trying to live ‘til well past 100. I’m sticking with the classics for now, with drinks you can knock out in a few minutes and that you’ll come back to again and again thereby justifying the bottle of bitters or sweet vermouth. I hate it when only used once before becoming a sticky waste of space at the back of the cupboard.


Anyway, the Manhattan just oozes class. It sounds the part, like you should be sitting in a scene from Mad Men and it tastes fantastic. It’s a classic mix of two parts spirit with one part sweet vermouth and a dash or two of bitters. There’s versions with brandy, gin, Scotch. But the one supposedly invented at the Manhattan Club in 1874 uses Bourbon.

A Manhattan with cherry and orange peel

I say supposedly, as it was supposed to have been made to serve to Winston Churchill’s mother, but on the date of big do in question she was in England giving birth to the future war time leader. There’s a few versions, of the cocktail not the story, as you might imagine, using different bitters, blends of sweet and dry vermouth and even Maraschino syrup for a particularly sweet one.

As with many Bourbon cocktails, it's about drawing out those sweet back-notes and the Manhattan does exactly that.

Try it with a nice cherry (not those shocking pink ones) or a twist from one of those nice big oranges. I've seen them with both garnishes, mind you, and if you go with both then frankly that just makes it healthier... Right?!

A barman pours some cocktail at a sophisticated looking joint, though probably not a Manhattan as it's stirred not shaken



50mls Bourbon, 25mls sweet vermouth, 2 dashes bitters. My book says Bob’s Abbots Bitters, but there’s plenty who use easy got Angostura.


Simply stir it all in a jug or what ever with a load of ice for a minute before straining into a nice chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry or twist of orange.

*Some add a splash of Maraschino syrup for a sweet Manhattan while others split the vermouth half dry and half sweet for a drier version.


