This is very much a Manhattan, but one with a bloated, almost Sangria-like fruitiness that I could see being served in a theme park speakeasy.

i suspect my dry vermouth might have been bad but this was not so good

This is great. I was searching for a slightly more sweet Manhattan. This does a great job of having a bit of sweetness, while the additional bitters and surprising bit of dry vermouth prevented it from being too cloying.

Went with Kim’s suggestion of using Luxardo originale instead of jar juice, but ended up adding in a splash from the jar for the pure syrupy hit as it was drier than I expected. Used Dolin vermouths but would be tempted to go with carpano next time. Was rather cautious with the bittering, but could have a bit heavier handed I think.

I misread the recipe the first several times I made this and used Luxardo maraschino liqueur instead of the cherry syrup. I’ve since tried the syrup and much prefer my mistake! It adds a little more dimension without too much sweetness. A great Manhattan recipe.

This is certainly "boozy", but there's also a lot going on that makes it very easy to drink. Spice/herbal from the rye, vermouths, & bitters. A little cherry/sweet from the syrup. Plus a je ne sais quoi from the rest of the notes in the rye, vermouths, and bitters. Maybe my favorite Manhattan, so far? Certainly the most interesting one.

This might be my favorite Manhattan. I have a bad habit of adding extra cherries and syrup to my manhattans as the norm. I appreciate this cocktail recipe providing me a standardized way to add extra sweetness but keep everything balanced. Otherwise I’m just winging it.

Lovely drink! We made it exactly as written (we even had Starlino cherries and their syrup) and thoroughly enjoyed it. Made an exceptional accompaniment to preparations for tomorrow's New Year's Eve dinner party.

This is very close to what I do. I like the added flavour of a small amount of the syrup from the Luxardo cherries. I also use a dash of actual Luxardo maraschino liqueur alongside the orange butters; it adds a nice “woody” flavour but it needs a delicate touch as it’s a strong flavour that can easily overwhelm everything else!

Was looking for an evening sipper with some kick. This really delivers. Did only use 1 barspoon of cherry juice as I did not want the cocktail to be sweet. It was great for an autumnal evening.