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
Measures below are multiplied for 6 drinks. Unmeasurable amounts such as “a splash” are left as written.
- 300 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 300 ml line. Rye whiskey - A peppery one - that is the whole idea of the name
- 600 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 600 ml line. Dr Pepper - Cold, and poured slowly so it stays lively
- 60 ml Jigger One large side (50 ml) of a standard jigger, plus two teaspoons. Lime juice
- 6 dashes Bottle Six quick shakes of the bottle - each a few drops, about a millilitre. Angostura bitters
- 6 cherries 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
Pitcher (6 drinks)Pitcher (6 drinks) - about 960 ml of measured ingredients, before ice and dilution.
Timings and per-glass steps below are written for one drink and are not scaled. A full jug takes longer to chill, so stir or shake until it is properly cold rather than by the clock, and pour over fresh ice one glass at a time.
- 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
Volumes in this story are multiplied for the size above, along with the ingredients. Years, ratios and the capacities of glasses and jugs are left as written.
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.
