white manhattan

2 oz Bols Genever
1 oz Dolin Blanc Vermouth
1 cube Demerara Sugar
2 dash Housemade Wormwood Bitters

Dash bitters onto a sugar cube and muddle. Add rest of ingredients and ice, stir, and strain into a rocks glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

After fulfilling our craving for food at Grasshopper in Allston, we went around the corner to Deep Ellum for drinks and hot pretzels. New on the Manhattans section of their menu was the White Manhattan featuring a gin-like spirit, Genever, which is malty enough to function like a whiskey. The White Manhattan's nose was replete with malty and lemon notes, and the beginning of the sip was full of the Genever's flavor. Also early on in the sip was a hint of sweetness from the sugar cube and vermouth which faded quickly upon the swallow. The wormwood notes appeared in the middle of the swallow followed by the Genever bite at the end. Indeed, the wormwood in the bitters seemed to complement the Bols Genever and Dolin Blanc botanicals rather well. In the bitters, the wormwood was not paired with anise like in absinthe but with fresh lemon, lime, and orange peel, dried orange peel, cane sugar, and gin. Just as we were finishing up our first round, Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli of Craigie on Main happened to walk in to Deep Ellum and part of his party was Tal Nadari who is the American representative of the Bols portfolio. I had met Tal at Tales of the Cocktail this past summer, and he was glad to see me drinking the Bols Genever drink off the menu. And in true Dutch custom, Tal ordered a round of Genever for everyone to sip on (although Andrea and I did not have the traditional beer back pairing).