I was shopping for some Vermouth for my Manhatthan addiction a while back and saw these three lovely little Dolin vermouths just sitting in a row waiting to be bought.  I thought to myself, hello brain! Let’s buy some and see which one I like better in a Manhattan. Makes sense right? Well, it does to me. 

Side note: I have enlisted some help from my friend Jennifer, so I don’t get super sloshed in the middle of the day. Plus, the more opinions the better.  And, we both love Bourbon and Manhatthans, so here we go.

I used Russell’s Reserve 10 for this experiment.

Manhattan(s) recipe:

2 ounces of Bourbon

1 ounce of Dolin Sweet Red Vermouth

–or-

1 ounce of Dolin Sweet Blanc Vermouth

2 dashes of angostura bitters

1 Luxardo cherry

Brooklyn recipe: 

Technically its called a Brooklyn when you use dry vermouth, but you have to add some cherry juice to compensate for the needed sweetness. 

2 ounces of Bourbon

1 ounce of Dolin Dry Vermouth

1/4 of an ounce of cherry juice, I used the juice from Woodford Cherries.

1 Luxardo Cherry

Verdict: 

Manhattan 1(Red): Very smooth. Floral. Herbal. Traditional Manhattan, exactly what you expect. Delicious.

Manhattan 2(Blanc): Dryer than the original Manhattan, but still lightly sweet, yet a different kind of sweetness, almost like white sugar versus brown sugar. Lighter than the first, not as bold. More refreshing than the original. 

Brooklyn: More Bourbon-y. Not as sweet. The most refreshing out of them all. Our favorite. The cherry juice versus bitters wins. We actually made a second round of Brooklyn’s to drink after the tasting. So, there’s that. 

Honestly we weren’t expecting the results that happened, but that’s how it normally goes in a tasting. We expected to like the original the most, and ended up liking the one that was totally different. So, the Brooklyn came out on top because it wasn’t as sweet as the others. I don’t think you need a lot of sweetness in this drink because Bourbon is already pretty sweet. Perhaps a rye would change the results, who knows.  (Or, maybe we chose the Brookyn because it’s summer time and it’s crazy hot outside.) 

Yet, in this showdown the Brooklyn wins.