08.Feb.2018

Great debut for our young “TIKI boy“
The Manhattan is an “aperitivo“ drink born in 1874 at Manhattan club in NYC. According to the recipe, it’s made with rye whiskey (distillate of a mix of cereals containing at least 51% of rye) in variable proportions from two to four to one versus a red vermouth and a drop of angostura. Some used to say that the original version entailed a few drops of maraschino as well, version created by the club barman following the indication of Lady Randolph Churchill, born Jennie Jerome, mother of the future British prime minister.
This drink soon became a status symbol for the clients of the club, and after a while for all the citizens of New York and of the world. The rarity of rye whiskey, subsequently led to its substitution with a Canadian whiskey, given the relatively high concentration of rye typical of this distillate.
Twisting a drink, in bartending jargon, means one or more fundamental components with others equivalent from a structural standpoint, but different in flavor and scent. But we’ll go deeper into this in some future post.
During the Head to Head Competition our young Lorenzo Verrucci did precisely this, creating his Caribbean Manhattan: replacing whiskey, the sapid part (the basis of the above-mentioned structure) of the classic Manhattan, with rum, and rebalancing the rest following his unparalleled taste.
Serving drinks means providing the customer in front of us with a tasting experience that has, at the very least, fully satisfy him. Experimenting and taking nothing for granted is fundamental for this job, as well as striving to innovate, as hard as it can be with the passing of time, due to the inflation of the barman job. The taste of the customer continually grows in complexity, and along with it, grows in the barman in front of him a sense confidence in his own knowledge and skill that often lacks fundamental justification.
Our hope is that this new generation of cocktail makers will be capable of focusing their attention towards specific and intelligent research in our field, setting aside useless envies and arrogance, and that will manage to learn from each other never forgetting to pay attention to the counsel of who possesses more experience.
Let us all make a toast to Lorenzo and to all the young guns in the world of mixology.
Create out of nothing, be original.
Or, twist the way it’s supposed to be done.


Caribbean Manhattan:
50ml Abuelo 7
30ml Vermouth of the Teacher
5ml Maraschino
2 dash Angostura bitters
Lemon zest
Coppetta champagne

Camillo Affinita
Makai Surf & Tiki bar