Name: Vermilion Manhattan
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 50 ml Rye whiskey 50% abv; 22.5 ml Orange-red aperitivo; 7.5 ml Red bitter liqueur; 2 dash Creole bitters

Vermilion Manhattan
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Photographed in an UB Koto Old Fashioned 30cl

Ingredients:
1 ²⁄₃ oz	Straight rye whiskey (100 proof /50% alc./vol.)
³⁄₄ oz	Bittersweet orange-red aperitivo
¹⁄₄ oz	Strucchi Red Bitter (Campari-style liqueur)
2 dash	Peychaud's or other Creole-style bitters

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill an Old-fashioned glass.
Orange zest twist (discarded) & orange slice wheel
STIR all ingredients with ice.
STRAIN into ice-filled glass (preferably over a large cube or chunk of block ice).
EXPRESS orange zest twist over cocktail and discard.
Garnish with orange slice.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

This bittersweet red-orange cocktail has notes of Boulevardier about it and moves the Manhattan from being a late-night cocktail back to the aperitivo moment.

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AKA: Select Manhattan

History:

Named after its colour by yours truly after adapting a recipe created by Jason Clapham of Oxford's Clapham Cocktails in February 2025. Jason's original recipe: 60ml (2oz) Sazerac Rye or similar, 30ml (1oz) Select Aperitivo and 2-3 dashes Peychaud's Bitters, stirred and strained into an old-fashioned glass over big ice with two lemon twists, the first one being discarded.

More cocktails by Jason E. Clapham

Nutrition:

One serving of Vermilion Manhattan contains 181 calories

Alcohol content:

1.7 standard drinks
28.92% alc./vol. (28.92° proof)
23.3 grams of pure alcohol

More Aperitivo/aperitif cocktails
More Bittersweet (e.g. Negroni) cocktails

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Chris Brislawn

19th March at 03:11

I could have used Aperol for the orange-red aperitivo but had a bottle of Ramazzotti Aperitivo Rosato so used that instead, with excellent results. The hibiscus and orange blossom notes in the Rosato worked perfectly with this drink.

John CARR

19th March at 12:36

Did a side by side comparison of Jason’s and Simon’s versions and (surprise surprise) loved the way Simon’s version brought out the best in the ingredients, especially the Campari bringing depth to the rye and peychauds. Genius at work.

John CARR

16th March at 13:58

Bit of a melange, tho certainly a tasty one. Saze-vadier, anyone? Was planning to follow mr Clapham’s recipe, but ran short of select (!), so had to make up the difference with 7.5ml each of Cocchi Rosa, Luxardo bitter bianco, and some Gustav Finnish lingonberry liqueur (fruity and sweet). Bitter Truth creole bitters. I was not displeased with the result! Stuck with Jason’s Extra lemon Twist garnish.

Chris Brislawn

19th March at 03:14

Finnish Lingonberry liqueur?! Bit of a melange, indeed! Are you sure you made *this* drink? ;-)

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