Manhattan
60 ml Rye whiskey, 30 ml Sweet vermouth, 2 dashes Angostura bitters, 1 Maraschino cherry
Pepper & Rye
Rye whiskey and Dr Pepper - the cabin's answer to a long, cold evening.
Contemporary
Easy
3 min
Ingredients
- 50 ml Jigger The large side of a standard jigger, filled to the top: 50 ml, with 25 ml on the other side. Rye whiskey - A peppery one - that is the whole idea of the name
- 100 ml Jigger Two large sides (2 x 50 ml) of a standard jigger. Dr Pepper - Cold, and poured slowly so it stays lively
- 10 ml Spoons Two teaspoons. Lime juice
- 1 dash Bottle One quick shake of the bottle - each a few drops, about a millilitre. Angostura bitters
- 1 cherry Maraschino cherry (optional)
Measured in Millilitres (UK). Sign in to read these in American measures. Print a kitchen card at this size.
What the jigger, the spoons and the jug hold, in millilitres and in fluid ounces, is on the measures reference.
Quick version
- Rye and lime over ice, Dr Pepper on top, one dash of bitters, cherry in.
Method
- Put a large cube in a rocks glass and pour the rye over it.
- Add the lime juice and the dash of bitters.
- Top with the Dr Pepper, pouring down the inside of the glass.
- Stir once, drop in a cherry, and squeeze a lime wedge over the top.
Serve it
Pepper & Rye
Dr Pepper has been mixed with American whiskey for about as long as both have existed - it is the sort of thing that happens in a kitchen on a Friday - and it works for a good reason. The soda is spiced with cherry and vanilla and a faint medicinal bitterness, which is a very close description of the flavours that a peppery rye already has. Put them together and the whiskey gets longer and fizzier without disappearing, which is more than can be said for most things you could pour into it.
Getting it right
Rye rather than bourbon, if you have the choice: bourbon is sweet enough on its own, and the two together tip into syrup. The lime is small but it is not optional - it is what stops the drink tasting like a can of pop that somebody has been careless with. Bitters add their own clove and cinnamon, which sit beautifully on top of the Dr Pepper, and one dash really is enough. Serve it over one big cube rather than a glass of small ones, so it stays cold without turning watery halfway down.
Tasting notes
Pepper and spice from the rye, cherry and caramel from the soda, and a long, warm, curiously refreshing finish. It is a proper drink wearing a soft drink's clothes.
If you want to be fancy, an orange twist over the top is lovely; if you want to be honest, the cherry is the better garnish.
