History of the Manhattan Cocktail

History Happy Hour!

The Manhattan cocktail, consisting of whiskey, vermouth and bitters, has remained popular through Prohibition, the Great Depression, and many presidential administrations. The origins and inventors of this time-honored drink, however, are still disputed. Was it first mixed at Lady Randolph Churchill’s party at New York’s Manhattan Club in 1874, or invented in the 1860s on Broadway by a man named Black? How did the arrival of an exotic Italian import named vermouth revolutionize the bartending world?  What other classic drinks stem from the Manhattan’s creation?  Hear the real story from writer and cocktail historian Phillip Greene, and learn about the classic recipe and its variations.

Guests will enjoy a free flight of three cocktails, with others available for purchase.

Philip Greene is a cocktail columnist for The Daily Beast, and has written three books on cocktail history.  His first, To Have and To Have Another: A Hemingway Cocktail Companion (2012) , brings a fresh and entertaining and authentic look at Ernest Hemingway’s fascinating life and times, as told through his favorite drinks (including recipes and anecdotes).  His book The Manhattan: The Story of the First Modern Cocktail was published in 2016, and his third book, A Drinkable Feast: A 1920’s Paris Cocktail Companion, will be published by Penguin Random House in October, 2018. Trademark and Internet Counsel to the U. S. Marine Corps by day, Greene is also one of the founders of the Museum of the American Cocktail in New Orleans, and a mixology consultant for restaurants and organizations across the world.

Copies of his first two books will be available for sale.

History Happy Hours include light refreshments and alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.

The History Happy Hour series is generously sponsored by Therrien Waddell Construction Group.