The American Craft Cocktail Foundation

The cocktail is an American invention — the earliest printed definition (1806, *The Balance and Columbian Repository*) describes a mixture of spirit, sugar, water, and bitters, which is precisely the Old Fashioned. The three foundational American cocktails — the **Old Fashioned** (bourbon or rye, sugar, Angostura bitters, orange peel), the **Manhattan** (rye or bourbon, sweet vermouth, Angostura bitters, cherry), and the **Martini** (gin, dry vermouth, olive or lemon twist) — represent the core technique vocabulary of the American bar: the spirit-forward cocktail (Old Fashioned), the spirit-and-vermouth cocktail (Manhattan), and the spirit-and-modifier cocktail (Martini). Every cocktail that followed is a variation on these three templates.

**Old Fashioned:** A sugar cube (or ½ tsp simple syrup) muddled with 2-3 dashes of Angostura bitters and a splash of water in a rocks glass. A large ice cube is added. 60ml bourbon or rye whiskey is poured over. Stirred gently. Garnished with an expressed orange peel (the oils squeezed over the surface, then the peel dropped in) and optionally a cherry. **Manhattan:** 60ml rye whiskey, 30ml sweet vermouth, 2 dashes Angostura bitters, stirred with ice in a mixing glass, strained into a coupe. Garnished with a brandied cherry. **Martini:** 60ml gin (or vodka), 15-30ml dry vermouth (the ratio is the most argued variable in cocktail culture — "dry" means less vermouth; "wet" means more), stirred with ice, strained into a chilled coupe. Garnished with an olive or a lemon twist.

Not yet written for this entry.

Not yet written for this entry.