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Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Squid Mixes: Breakfast Manhattan?

My wife and daughter made breakfast for dinner on Friday night: blueberry waffles and bacon.  My wife suggested Manhattans to drink and it seemed a fine occasion for an experiment.  How might one create a Breakfast Manhattan?  There are recipes around, of course.  The simplest one I found was this one from Difford's Guide.  We didn't have any marmalade (not really a fan anyway) so that wasn't gonna happen.  For the initial attempt, I simply switched out the usual Angostura bitters for orange bitters.  The result was perfectly pleasant, though not especially breakfasty.  In fact, basic Manhattan recipes allow for the substitution.


How might I fix that?  The basic idea of a fruity infusion seems a good one though I don't want to go so far that it overpowers the other flavors, always a risk with citrus and the marmalade would.  How about switching out the vermouth for triple sec?  Well, then the cocktail is called a whiskey sidecar, perhaps an acceptable alternative.  We like sidecars.  Or could I split the difference and use a combination of both vermouth and triple sec?  Would the grape/orange combo be weird?

Obviously, further studies will be required.


Squid on the Vine

Les Deux Moulins, Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2018
Strong apple and pear
My rating: 8.4

Cento Cavalli, Terre Siciliane Nero d'Avola 2018
Chocolate-covered cherry
Maybe too sweet
Astringent
My rating: 8.2
at

4 comments:

  1. Andrew LeonMarch 4, 2020 at 1:07 PM

    Try Amarena cherries and some of the syrup from the jar.
    Quite good.

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    Replies
    1. The Armchair SquidMarch 8, 2020 at 4:43 PM

      Your idea has great merit! I'm in love with the Luxardo cherries I'm using at the moment but I'm certainly up for trying others, especially once I've settled on the other Manhattan ingredients. We've even discussed trying to make our own.

      The cherry is important!

      Delete
  2. Commander ZaiusMarch 5, 2020 at 5:20 PM

    Have you ever tried a Chocolate Manhattan? That's about as sophisticated as I get, yes my wife rarely allows me to her coworker parties.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Armchair SquidMarch 8, 2020 at 4:55 PM

      Sounds interesting. Just did a quick Google. The only ingredient I don't have is chocolate bitters. Definitely up for some more in-depth bitters exploration before too long!

      Delete