Name: McKinley's Delight
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 50 ml Rye whiskey 50% abv; 25 ml Rosso/sweet vermouth; 5 ml Cherry brandy; 1 dash Absinthe

McKinley's Delight
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Photographed in an UB Retro Coupe 1910

Ingredients:
1 ²⁄₃ oz	Straight rye whiskey (100 proof /50% alc./vol.)
⁵⁄₆ oz	Strucchi Rosso Vermouth
¹⁄₆ oz	Heering Cherry Liqueur
1 dash	La Fée Parisienne absinthe

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist.
STIR all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
EXPRESS lemon zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Rosso/rouge/sweet vermouth (di Torino) - Sulphur Dioxide/Sulphites

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

A cherry brandy influenced Sweet Manhattan with extra complexity courtesy of a dash of absinthe.

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Variant:

Made with bourbon in place of straight rye whiskey.

History:

Adapted from a recipe created in 1896 at the bar in the old Waldorf-Astoria in New York City, this cocktail was named for President McKinley and features in Albert Stevens Crockett's 1931 Old Waldorf Bar Days.

McKINLEY'S DELIGHT*
One dash Absinthe
Tw0 dashes Cherry Brandy
Two-thirds Whiskey
One-third Italian Vermuth
Stir; strain
Albert Stevens Crockett, 1931

Nutrition:

One serving of McKinley's Delight contains 167 calories

Alcohol content:

1.7 standard drinks
29.87% alc./vol. (29.87° proof)
24 grams of pure alcohol

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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Showing 4 comments for McKinley's Delight.
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Matt

26th June at 01:40

The flavor combination is good, and stands out as different from others - any fan of Manhattan variants should try this. But I like other similar cocktails better. It's good, but I don't think it is great.

james McMakin

22nd March at 20:08

Perhaps our new POTUS should try a few of these and calm down since he likes McKinley and his tariffs so much (sorry Simon I couldn’t resist). Great old school cocktail that is improved with quality ingredients. One and done for the day though.

G. M. Genovese

6th July 2023 at 12:15

Bizarre cocktail with flavors I didn't expect. Used Sazerac Rye and Vermut Lustau; Cherry Heering and spritzed the glass with local Vieux Carre absinthe. Chocolate mint and/or chocolate cherry cordial in spades. Quite impressed, oh my... (6 Jul 2023, 8:13a)