From the BUCKEYE TAVERN, "Patrick Murphy's The Barman's Corner," 15 March 1945, pg. 6, col. 2: From out of Manhattan last week came data from Ed Gibbs, one of the trade's 'way-back-when columnist and now a publisher and newsletter writer (Gibbs once wrote for the BUCKEYE TAVERN--ed.), to the effect that the Manhattan Cocktail has a definite date of origin. If so, this will be one of the very few cocktails which can be nailed down as to time and place of birth. The Gibbs' version, which in turn is from sources he labels as his "research department," declares that on a memorable December 29, 1874, evening at the Manhattan Club, "in the old A. T. Stewart Mansion--now the Empire State Blg.," a testimonial dinner was held in honor of Samuel J. Tilden. This is the Tilden, history-wise readers will recall, who received a majority vote of the U. S. A. when Presidential candidate, but was defeated by the electoral college set-up. Official notes on the banquet alluded to declare that the dinner was preceded by a drink made of "American Whiskey, Italian Vermouth and Angostura Bitters." It proved so popular that club members asked for it again and again, hence became known as the Manhattan Cocktail. This reads well but we must remain a bit dubious. For instance, it is quite probable that the drink was served before that December 29th evening in the Manhattan clubrooms--it may have been the house drink of several years. And old bar guides, one that we have being originally printed in 1860, list many a Manhattan Cocktail, so the name antedates the event Mr. Gibbs speaks of. (What bar guide is this?--ed.) Many early Manhattans called for a dash of this or that--absinthe, or orange bitters or even curacao. Harry Johnson stipulated a twist of lemon peel as the garnish, back in the 1870's, in contrast to today's maraschino cherry garnish. The drink was evidently a vermouth and whiskey combination, but had local variations. -
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I used to have a copy of a very old bar recipe book, which had both of the above stories. There is no doubt that there was a Manhattan before the Jenny Churchill/Tilden episode. There is also no doubt that the current recipe for a Manhattan is closer to what was served at the Tilden affair than any other known mixtures. The Churchill story is too entrenched to effectively challenge, but I wanted to make sure that AP has least has the entire story.
The current Manhattan is almost the dark counterpart to a Martini- whisky instead of gin, sweet vermouth (which is dark) instead of dry vermouth (which is almost clear), a cherry instead of the lighter-colored lemon peel. (I started working in a bar when I was 10. It's amazing what a 10 year-old learns working in a bar.)
