national

2/3 Rye Whiskey (1 1/2 oz Old Overholt)
1 dash Pineapple Juice (1/2 oz)
1/4 Sweet Vermouth (1/2 oz Cocchi)
1 dash Bacardi (1/2 oz Depaz)
1 dash Abbott's Bitters (Homemade, Deragon recipe)

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Two Wednesdays ago, I began flipping through the well-worn pages of Pioneers of Mixing at Elite Bars: 1903-1933 and came across the National. The name reminded me of the Hotel Nacional, but the only overlap here was the rum and pineapple ingredients. Mostly, the National was a Manhattan with something Caribbean added akin to the Martinique from the same book more than a rum drink per se.
In the glass, the National shared clovey spices, grassy, and pineapple aromas to the nose. Next, pineapple with hints of grape and malt filled the sip, and the swallow gave forth rye, grassy, clove, and other spice flavors. Overall, it lived up to the dry tropical-tinged Manhattan I was expecting.