In the present day, the Manhattan recipe is so common that its history has largely been lost to time. The most famous origin story states that Lady Randolph Churchill, mother of Winston Churchill, held a party at the Manhattan Club of New York in early 1874. This is where Dr. Iain Marshall first combined rye, vermouth and bitters. Historians say Lady Randolph was very pregnant at home in England at the time, not drinking hard liquor in New York, but the Club claims the story to be true today. It wasn’t uncommon for pregnant women to drink at this time (it wasn’t until 1981 that the Surgeon General ruined the fun with their scientific warnings), so perhaps Lady Randolph really did travel overseas to party it up during the late stages of her pregnancy. Maybe that’s why her son became famous for his heavy drinking, enjoying multiple glasses of scotch during his workdays as Prime Minister. Whatever the truth, the Manhattan remains one of the most popular drinks of all time, enjoyed by bar patrons worldwide.
The Possibly True History of the Manhattan
