lower west side

1 3/4 oz Irish Whiskey (Teeling Small Batch)
3/4 oz Sweet Vermouth (Alessio)
1/2 oz Lustau East India Solera Sherry
1/2 oz Dry Vermouth (Dolin)
1 dash Angostura Bitters
1 pinch Sea Salt (4 drop 20% Saline)

Stir with ice, strain into a coupe glass, and garnish with a cherry. Two Sundays ago, I found a recipe by Kenneth McCoy at Ward III in New York City in a 2019 Imbibe Magazine article called the Lower West Side. Historically, the Lower West Side of Manhattan was a major center for Irish immigrants that intensified with the famine in Ireland during the 1840s-50s, and many found work on the nearby docks as longshoremen and congregated around waterfront taverns in the area. The combination of Irish whiskey and Lustau's cream sherry reminds me of Eastern Standard-related recipes like the Goonight Irene at the Hawthorne and Velveteen at Equal Measure. In the glass, the Lower West Side channeled a grape, nutty red cherry, and clove aroma to the nose. Next, grape and plum notes on the sip transformed into soft whiskey, oxidized nuttiness, and herbal flavors on the swalllow. Overall, the soft Irish whiskey gently blended into the background giving the sherry, vermouths, and bitters a much larger stage than in a classic rye Manhattan.