Boroughs Cocktails

by ,

                                      Boroughs Cocktails

Did you know that there are 5 cocktails named after the New York City Boroughs?  I recently had dinner at a local restaurant that features them on their cocktail menu and I enjoyed revisiting them so much. Out of the five, only one is made with rum, so you may ask why I chose this subject for my article? It is simple-- rum is so incredibly versatile that you can easily switch out the base spirits with different styles of rum while still keeping the integrity of the cocktail. 

So let’s go through each:

I will start with arguably the most famous of the group, the Manhattan, originally created in the late 1800’s.   A Manhattan is comprised of 2 parts bourbon or rye, 2 part sweet vermouth, and 2 dashes of Angostura bitters.  (Coincidentally, 2-1-2 is also the area code in Manhattan)   It is most commonly served straight up and garnished with a cherry.  In the famous book, The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, by David Embury, it is listed as one of the six basic drinks, and it is the only one of the five listed as one of the “unforgettables” on the IBA list of official cocktails.  There are many stories of its origin but the most common is that it was served at a banquet hosted by Lady Randolph Churchill at the Manhattan Club in the late 19th century. Keeping in mind that rye whiskey is bold and spicy, subbing in a rich aged rum like Appleton works perfectly.  

The Bronx cocktail consists of gin, dry vermouth and orange juice, and in 1934 was ranked as the third most famous drink in the world.   It appeared in the 1908 book The World’s Drinks and How to Mix Them, by William Boothby, and some say it was created by a bartender at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.  I have seen this recipe with the addition of sweet vermouth as well and that is how I make mine. This is a crisp and dry cocktail so using a light rum, like Flor de Caña White, instead of the gin is ideal.  

The Brooklyn, which is my favorite of them all, consists of rye whiskey, sweet vermouth, Angostura bitters and Luxardo Maraschino liqueur.  It first appeared in Jacob Straub’s 1908 book, Drinks, and was popular in the early 20th century but became quite obscure after Prohibition.  I made this one with Ron Zacapa 23 and I thought it was delicious.  

The Queens is made with gin, dry vermouth and pineapple juice.  It originally dates back to 1930 when it was featured in Harry Craddock’s Savoy Cocktail Book.  I went with a light rum in this one too but I wanted a little more of a punch so I used Plantation 3 Stars.

And finally, the Staten Island Ferry (named after the ferry that takes people between Manhattan and Staten Island) which consists of equal parts of coconut rum and pineapple juice.  This of course is reminiscent of a Piña Colada without the cream element and it is a modern classic.   For this cocktail I used Don Q Coco Rum and it was fantastic.

Cris