Binny's Blog

We love a good tasting experiment on Barrel to Bottle, so this week we're making Manhattans. A lot of Manhattans. So many Manhattans that we can't keep track of how many we're making. We tried 21 different bitters to see which one makes the best Manhattan.

This year, we accepted 40+ entries and the top 10 were judged by beer legend and Boston Beer co-founder, Jim Koch. We were blown away by the incredible homebrew entries and had a blast drinking some delicious Sam Adams beers with Jim Koch.

Originally, the Sazerac cocktail was made with French brandy. In 1873, the recipe for the Sazerac Cocktail was altered to replace the French brandy with American Rye whiskey. We decided to recreate the original with Hennessy Cognac - plus ginger syrup, a few dashes of barrel aged bitters, and of course, a heavy absinthe rinse.

This cocktail is everything that embodies sunny warm days outdoors. Tart and crisp citrus vodka and grapefruit bitters are the defining touch in this cocktail. They make for a fresh, floral and refreshing warm weather sipper that you should totally enjoy outside on your deck, patio, porch, sidewalk, rooftop...