Big Apple Breakdown
The City that Never Sleeps, Metropolis, Empire City, Fun City, Gotham, The Melting Pot, Father Knickerbocker, Hong Kong on the Hudson, The City So Nice They Named It Twice, or The Big Apple…the many nicknames of New York, America’s largest and most iconic city. Having likely the most nicknames of any American city, New York finds itself at the top of many other “most” lists; the most people, most skyscrapers, most bookstores, most subway stations, most pizza shops and in keeping with the subject matter of this blog, the most bars, and most cocktails historically connected to it in some way. And, if I asked you to name one, you would undoubtedly say the Manhattan.
But Manhattan is only one part of the New York City (NYC) whole. Could there be a drink called the New York? Actually, yes; there is a New York Cocktail or New York Sour that originated in the 1880s. It is an interesting take on the classic Whiskey Sour. It brings the combination of whiskey, lemon and sugar to another level by the addition of a floated topping of red wine. Why it is called a New York Sour has nothing to do with its place of origin. The drink was originally created by a Chicago bartender, and was called a Continental Sour or Claret Sour. However, it found greater fame and popularity in NYC during Prohibition. Without any mixology apology to the Windy City, New Yorkers claimed it and re-named it.
In addition, there are quite a few cocktails called the Big Apple. But, these also have no allegiance to NYC. The apple moniker for all the Big Apples out there is only a reference to the cocktail’s ingredients. They each include either apple brandy, apple cider (hard or soft), apple liqueur, apple juice or apple sauce.
The Manhattan
With the New York Sour and the Big Apple dismissed as cocktails connected to NYC in name only, the father (or mother) of all New York cocktails, the classic Manhattan, remains at the top of the list. Much has been written about this magical mixture of Whiskey, Vermouth and bitters. An entire book is devoted to it, Philip Greene’s The Manhattan, The Story of the First Modern Cocktail. Reference to the cocktail first appeared in written print in the 1880s, and O. H. Byron’s 1884 Modern Bartenders’ Guide cited two versions, one made with French (dry) vermouth, the other with Italian (sweet) vermouth. However, even with all the research into the cocktail’s history, no one has provided a definitive inventor and story of origin. Nevertheless, there are plenty of suggestions out there.
One of them points to a 1923 book, Valentine’s Manual of Old New York. It contains a reference to a conversation with William Mulhall, a bartender at NYC’s Hoffman House in the 1880s. Mulhall recalled that the Manhattan was invented by a man named Black, who kept a place on Broadway.
A somewhat more prevalent and certainly more detailed story purports that in 1874, the Manhattan was created by Dr. Iain Marshall for a political banquet in honor of Samuel J. Tilden, governor of New York. The success of the banquet made the drink fashionable. People began to request the drink by referring to the place where it may have been served, “the Manhattan Club cocktail.” Although this might all have been true, the tale incorrectly included an embellishment that Brooklyn native, Jennie Jerome, aka Lady Randolph Churchill, was somehow involved. History shows that, to the contrary, Lady Randolph was at her home in England about to give birth to baby Winston Churchill.
In any case, as the Manhattan Club maintained its claim to the origin of the recipe, the popularity of the Manhattan cocktail spread far and wide. And it spread in one direction that is so unexpected that the swirling mists of imagination begin to mix with historical fact to conjure up another chapter in the Chronicles of Cocktail Connections…
The Wandering Manhattan
Marco and Claudia Alberti were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. The couple had left their Brooklyn, New York home two weeks previously. They were in the midst of the vacation of their lives touring Northern Europe. Their tour had taken them to Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Hamburg, and on their way to Copenhagen, the tour had added an interesting two-day side trip.
Their tour bus had parked near the docks of the small North-German town of Dagebull on the North Sea. They had boarded a ferry for a 45-minute journey through the Wadden Sea National Park. and docked at the port of Wyk on the North Frisian Island of Föhr. Marco and Claudia had dropped their luggage in their room at the Strandhotel overlooking the sea. They had headed out for an exploratory walk around town. They first toured the Haberlin Natural History Museum and browsed in several quaint shops lining the cobbled streets of Wyk. Looking now for a little happy hour refreshment, they were attracted by a rustic cottage adorned with anchors and a sign proclaiming the pub within to be Gastatte Glaube-Liebe-Hoffnung (Restaurant of Faith-Love-Hope).
The Albertis entered and were visually pleased with their choice. Nautical décor was everywhere. A life-sized wooden statue of a mermaid stood proudly at one end of the small 4-seater bar. A Bundesliga futbol (soccer) match was in progress on the large television over the bar. Many species of captured sea life hung from the rafters. A few likely regular customers were seated at worn wooden tables spread throughout the comfortable room, speaking in tones of relaxed familiarity. Marco noticed the barstools were empty and led his willing wife in that direction.
As they approached the bar, they were greeted by the bartender, a large, ruddy-complexioned, middle-aged man. “Guten tag, meine freunde,” he said with a broad smile. “Wei kann ich dir helfen?”
Marco returned the smile and replied, “Guten tag. I am sorry, but we are American, and our German is limited to the typical bare minimum of tourists.”
The bartender shifted gears without effort. “Well then, we will speak English. I am your host Martin Jensen. Welcome to my pub.” And as he passed them a bar menu, he asked, “Would you care for a drink?”
“Pleased to meet you, Martin. My name is Marc and this is my wife Claudia. Yes, we would love a cocktail. Any recommendations?”
Martin was happy to provide his thoughts. “We have an excellent selection of German beer and wine, but I must recommend you try the official cocktail of our island, the Föhrer Manhattan.”
Claudia’s eyes widened as she exclaimed, “The whaaat! If I just heard you say a Manhattan, we are New Yorkers, and this is the last place I would expect to find that very familiar drink. I was expecting you to offer something with Jägermeister or Schnapps.”
Marco’s expression conveyed that he echoed his wife’s doubts. “We know what is in the Manhattan we order at our corner bar in Dyker Heights, but how do you make a Föhrer Manhattan?”
Martin laughed, saw by the few customers that he had some time to spare, pulled up his own stool, and said, “Let me tell you both a little story of Frisian history…
“Once upon a time, my great great grandfather, Andreas Jensen, spent his days sailing these cold waters as a whaler. But, as you might be aware, the late 1800s is when the whaling industry collapsed in Europe. Great great grandfather Andreas decided, like many Frisian whalers, to pack up his family and head to America, the land of opportunity.”
“Some of those Frisians tried to make their fortune in the Klondike gold rush, but Andreas was of a more conservative hard-working nature and settled in New York City. After a time, he learned the bartending trade that has gotten into our blood and for four generations been continued down to me. The Manhattan, being the most popular drink of those times, became quite imbedded in the transplanted Frisian culture, and my great great grandfather and great grandfather Jacob after him served up thousands of them during their time in New York.“
“But the pull of the homeland was strong, and many Frisians, including Jacob, returned to Föhr. When they did, they brought their love of the Manhattan cocktail with them. That is why, when you visit Föhr, you will find our simple version of a perfect Manhattan, 1-part whiskey, 1-part sweet Vermouth, 1-part dry Vermouth, without bitters, made in large batches and stored behind nearly every bar on the island. We drink it at weddings, funerals, christenings, birthdays, and every other Frisian occasion, or just to toast the completion of another day.”
With that, he produced a jug marked ‘Föhrer Manhattan’ from a shelf behind the bar. As Martin poured three good-sized portions and raised his glass, he said, “So ends our history lesson for today. Now, in keeping with Frisian tradition, we drink to the meeting of new friends.”
The three of them sipped and savored that perfect potion, and Marco toasted, “We have witnessed many wonders on this celebratory journey, but what I will remember most is this day on Föhr, our introduction to a new friend, and our re-introduction to this classic cocktail.” And, as they enjoyed each warming flavor-filled mouthful and the accompanying relaxed conversation, outside, the sun set with an unseen green flash over the dark waters of the North Sea.
The Manhattan has survived 145 years of good times, bad times, wars, recessions, Prohibition, the Depression, and cultural upheavals of all sorts. Blending whiskey’s richness and warmth with Vermouth’s sweetness and complexity, and adding a touch of balancing bitters was simply a recipe for lasting success. But Manhattan is only one of the five boroughs of NYC. In a geographic breakdown of the metropolitan whole, there are also the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island to consider. Indeed, there is a cocktail associated with each.
The Bronx or Da Bronx
The fame and popularity of the Manhattan was spreading far and wide. So, it was not long after that the other boroughs, through their cocktail craving citizens, were exclaiming, “What about us?” The Bronx Cocktail was the first to follow, having originated sometime between 1900 and 1905.
Some say that an unknown Philadelphia bartender invented the Bronx Cocktail. And, that Joseph Sormani, a Bronx restaurateur, discovered it there in 1905. He supposedly brought it to New York, and forever out of obscurity.
However, the prevailing story of origin relates that Johnnie Solon, well-known bartender at The Brass Rail Bar in NYC’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel, created the cocktail around 1901. He concocted the drink in response to a customer’s challenge to come up with a new cocktail on the fly. Johnnie met the challenge by winging a twist on a Duplex cocktail he had just finished making. A Duplex is equal parts of sweet and dry Vermouth with a splash of orange bitters. Johnnie pumped that drink up by adding two jiggers of gin to those Vermouths, and played on the orange bitters by replacing it with a jigger of orange juice.
The result can be looked at as either a ginned up Duplex, or a juicy Perfect Martini. When asked to name the drink, Johnnie had a visit to the newly-opened Bronx Zoo fresh in his mind. He also thought of his customers’ tales of visions of exotic wild animals after downing too many of his strong cocktails. Thus, when he called it The Bronx Cocktail, he really was naming the drink after the Zoo, rather than the borough itself.
In 1934, the Bronx Cocktail was listed as the 3rd most popular cocktail, right behind the Martini and the Manhattan, and just ahead of the Old Fashioned and the Sidecar.
The Brooklyn
Not wanting Brooklyn to be left out, several NYC bartenders soon jumped on the borough cocktail bandwagon. Thus, contrary to the norm, this drink had its name before being created in multiple early-1900 iterations. The few early attempts at creating a Brooklyn fell by the wayside of classic cocktail history, being unpopular and undesirable concoctions with rum or gin.
However, along came Jacob “Jack” Grohusko, the long-time bartender at Baracca’s very popular bar in Lower Manhattan. In 1905, he published what would be the first of five editions of his Jack’s Manual of Recipes for Fancy Mixed Drinks and How to Serve Them. Therein, he included the recipe for a Brooklyn Cocktail that is still followed today. Grohusko’s recipe was a cousin to the Manhattan, keeping the base of rye whiskey and sweet Vermouth, specifically prescribing Amer Picon bitters (a French bitter orange liqueur), and adding a dash of Maraschino Liqueur. He may also have simply built upon an existing drink attributed to NYC’s Hotel St. George by adding the Amer Picon ingredient.
Grohusko lived in Hoboken, New Jersey, and Baracca’s restaurant was in Manhattan. Therefore, it is highly likely that the inspiration for inventing a Brooklyn cocktail came from the restaurant’s owner Victor Baracca, a resident of Brooklyn. He may have pushed Jack to create a drink for his borough to stand alongside the classic Manhattan and newly popular Bronx cocktails. Although initially very popular, Grohusko’s Brooklyn never kept up with the torrid popularity pace of the Manhattan. However, you can’t keep a good cocktail down, and with the craft cocktail renaissance of the last two decades, the Brooklyn has risen again. Recipes today generally call for dry Vermouth rather than sweet, and because Amer Picon is rare to find in the US, bartenders and amateur mixologists have found many creative bitter orange substitutes.
Queens and Staten Island
The two remaining boroughs also have cocktails attributed to them, although not with as strong a NYC attachment as the Manhattan, Bronx, and Brooklyn.
In his 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book, Harry Craddock included a recipe for a Queen’s Cocktail. A Queen’s Cocktail was similar to the Bronx. It was a perfect Martini derivative, including the gin, sweet Vermouth, and dry Vermouth components, but giving it a fruity aspect by adding a little crushed or juiced pineapple. Noting that Craddock worked in England and the name of the drink is Queen’s with an apostrophe, it most certainly was a reference to the royal Queen rather than the NYC borough. Nevertheless, the years have erased the apostrophe and New York has adopted the cocktail as one of its own.
Last, but not least, there is Staten Island. It would be left off this borough beverage listing were it not for its famous connector to Manhattan, the Staten Island Ferry. A Staten Island Ferry cocktail may have appeared first at the Jade Island Tiki Bar, on Staten Island. It has a recipe of coconut rum and pineapple juice, basically a Piña Colada without the coconut cream. Its recipe may have been a tongue-in-cheek comparison of Staten Island to other more tropical islands and their fruity rum concoctions sipped on warm beach vacations.
Below the Boroughs
There is one more level to be mentioned in this NYC cocktail tale. Bartenders, re-enamored with the Brooklyn cocktail, have taken to tinkering with that drink’s original recipe. In doing so, they have named many of these Brooklyn relatives after neighborhoods making up the Borough of Brooklyn. There are plenty of Brooklyn neighborhoods to go around, and it’s a good thing, because NYC’s bartenders have been busy. The following table demonstrates the many ways the Brooklyn has been modified. Brooklyn neighborhood names have been used to seal the cocktail relationship.
| Cocktail | Ingredient Info |
| Original Manhattan | Rye; Sweet Vermouth; Bitters |
| Original Brooklyn | Rye; Sweet Vermouth (original) or Dry; Amer Picon Bitters; Maraschino liqueur |
| Red Hook | Drops the Amer Picon from the Brooklyn |
| Greenpoint | Replaces Amer Picon with dashes of orange and Angostura bitters, and the Maraschino with Yellow Chartreuse |
| Carroll Gardens | Replaces the Amer Picon with Nardini Amaro |
| The Slope (Park Slope) | Adds apricot liqueur to the original Manhattan recipe |
| Bensonhurst | Replaces Amer Picon with Cynar in a dry Brooklyn |
| Bushwick | Uses the same ingredients as the Brooklyn but more whiskey and less vermouth |
| Williamsburg | Adds Campari to a Red Hook |
| Bay Ridge | Replaces the Amer Picon and Maraschino with Benedictine and Prune Brandy |
| Cobble Hill | Replaces the Amer Picon with Montenegro Amaro and the Maraschino with muddled cucumber |
Thus, we have seen how a classic New York City-inspired cocktail, became, itself, an inspiration for a whole family of other geographically-related drinks. This NYC beverage breakdown will likely continue on. Other neighborhoods of the five boroughs are waiting in the wings for their chance at cocktail stardom.
