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Preakness Manhattan
A Sweet Manhattan with a herbal touch of Bénédictine and cognac. Drier and more complex than our Preakness Cocktail recipe
CJ Grant
27th July 2025 at 16:56
I went with a half ounce of brandy (a local pear brandy that is not heavy on the pear) and orange bitters. I like that the brandy brings a little nuance and pairs with the Benedictine well. I am usually wary of a bourbon cocktail, especially when I am using a shelf bourbon, as it can tend to get lost, but it provides a nice, lightly smoky sweet base here.
8th June 2025 at 00:48
Ooooh! I think I might like this more than a conventional Manhattan! I made this and sipped on it while watching an old 50’s noir movie and it was the perfect accompaniment.
14th April 2025 at 22:13
Foro Vermouth di Torino gave this a great caramel boost!
31st March 2025 at 03:19
I have to battle my antipathy towards cognac; which just tastes like bottled gout to me….. but the almost homeopathic amount here combined with my love of benedictine triumphs…I think it needs to settle in the glass a bit, it struck me as a real slow sipper
26th March 2025 at 17:33
I knew this was going to be good when I read the comments! I used Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey... because I could. All the picky cocktail drinkers lapped it up and asked for seconds...on a school night!
8th March 2025 at 04:47
Our favourite Manhattan...gorgeously feminine with its elegance and subtlety, pretending to hide an underlying voluptuousness.
28th February 2025 at 12:41
That's really good. It's balanced and tasteful.
16th February 2025 at 14:45
That cognac and benedictine combo is really divine. I used a flavorful cognac and it really paid off. It's oaky, spicy, herbal and venous all at the same time. In my mind this is what I'm going to order whenever I want a Manhattan.
31st January 2025 at 14:35
Second time having this. But these brands and tweaks made this almost too deadly. What do you think?... Willett Pot Still Bourbon, Pierre Ferrand Ambre, Benedictine (10 ml), Cocchi di Torino, Bitter Truth Bogart's bitters... Someone needs to just blend and bottle that. RTD over ice. Heavens to Murgatroyd!
12th March 2025 at 13:15
Taking the Benedictine back to 10ml sounds like a good call. I used carpano but I thinks it’s a bit ott. Used the built-in dasher on the angostura bottle and 3 was def excessive. Bogarts could be great…
31st January 2025 at 14:43
Oops... third time trying this. Mixed up the brands each time... Punt e Mes is a bit rough for the rosso; beware?
27th December 2024 at 07:22
Delicious Manhattan. Used 50/50 split of Wild Turkey 101 & 81 bourbon, Remy Martin VSOP, Benedictine, & Dolin Rouge. Bourbon-forward, but real smooth and complex. Easy sippin'.
2nd May 2024 at 03:47
For someone who's not a fan of the more traditional manhattans, this is awesome!
28th April 2023 at 18:23
This is cracking - worth using a top-notch vermouth (I used Cocchi Storico Vermouth di Torino). And as has been mentioned it more than tips it's cap to the Vieux Carré (the link to this seems to be missing, and the variant is all wrong too - an easy mistake to make after one of these!)
5th June 2022 at 00:18
Wonderful. Not too sweet and very whiskey forward. Great blending of flavours. Great before dinner with some cheese.
24th March 2022 at 23:58
Very nice indeed!
28th May 2021 at 13:55
Ron's new favourite Manhattan (May 27/21)
20th February 2021 at 18:19
My new favourite, Delicious!
6th February 2021 at 00:52
Fantastic Manhattan. I used Jerry Thomas bitters.
Anonymous
19th December 2020 at 04:59
So basically a Vieux Carre without the Peychaud.
23rd August 2024 at 09:41
I would say very different cocktails, very different propertions of the ingredients and different tastes. I really like the Preakness Manhattan and I am no big fan of the Vieux Carre.
30th May 2022 at 06:21
I've added a link to the Vieux Carré above.
2nd October 2020 at 16:54
Fabulous. I really like this one, despite an initial reservation about tinkering with my Manhattan. I find that upping the ingredients to 60/10/20/20 gives me the correct size drink for my glasses.
12th June 2022 at 09:20
These are ml, of course, and not percentages.
12th June 2022 at 00:45
110%?
20th April 2020 at 21:39
I love it! Used Rye instead of Bourbon. I thought about a maraschino cherry instead of the lemon but I was glad I didn't.