Negroni meets Manhattan meets martini. Interesting little beverage this one. I “manually carbonated” it by encasing the ingredients within two metal tins arranged oppositionally to each other and agitating rapidly. Some interesting chocolate and tobacco notes, I think brought out by the bitters contrasting with the vermouth and bourbons - 50/50 split of Elijah Craig and Woodford reserve double Oaked. Was tempted to try something using the sodastream but thought better of it. Might have to scour the charity shops for a vintage soda siphon.

My first experiment with a Frankenstein force carbonation system chucked together from homebrew kit. Found the carbonation makes a surprising difference, elevating an already very good beverage. Fun! Definitely found a more sticky rosso (i.e. punt e mes) is appropriate here

Tried it with higer proof Bourbon, Campari and 5 ml heavily carbonated water.

Kind of nice, needs tweaks though.

Another check in the non-carbonated column (we're going to all end up at Simon's, quite a party), but it was still a very tasty drink. It definitely reads like a bittersweet Manhattan variation, as advertised. I wasn't sure how the Suze and bourbon would play together, and it turns out the answer is "really well". I made a version with L'Aperitivo Nonino too instead of Aperol, which was obviously quite different, but equally good.

I'm not sure about the name of this cocktail. Surely it should be the Enrico Pallazzo? That's the name of the fictional opera singer in Naked Gun. I made it last night exactly as written. Delicious. The bittersweet combination worked perfectly.

We too lack a charger so, since we can't drop by Simon's place, I served it "still" in DOFs over ice blocks. Rather than Salers (no Suze) I chose Bonal Gentiane-Quina because I thought its additional complexity and richness would work better in this drink. Used Stranahan's Rocky Mountain Cask Strength Single Malt and Carpano Classico (haven't seen Strucchi over here). A tad sweet but very good mix of warm flavors; benefits from the extra dilution obtained by serving over ice.

So today I said to my husband he can chose a bourbon from the top 20 so he chose this one, I asked that he prepares the cocktails whilst I would prepare the aperitif salamis and pâté toasts. He followed the recipe till it said „place in a carbonator“, huh hoh didn’t see that one coming. It was very nice without but it would have been nice to try a fizzy version so he suggested we go to Simon’s home to try the carbonated version 🤔

Nice cocktail, true to the description of "bittersweet Manhattan-style" drink. I tried with Bulliet Rye as well and thought it was a tasty subsitute.