High West The 36th Vote Barreled Manhattan Cocktail (750ml)

The 36th Vote commemorates Utah's role as the deciding vote to end Prohibition. High West Distillery have created a special 'pre-mix' Manhattan to commemorate the event - partly because of the Manhattan has a kind of classic appeal and timelessness, but also because it's one of their favourite cocktails.

This is no run-of-the-mill premix. High West have gone to considerable lengths to produce a wonderful interpretation that delivers complexity, texture and fantastic length. The result is dangerously easy to drink.

High West explain how they did it: "We used the pre-Prohibition recipe of two parts rye whiskey to one part sweet vermouth and two dashes of bitters. We then married the mixture in the rye whiskey's American white oak barrel for 90 days, allowing the flavors to integrate in a well-balanced harmony of the rye's spiciness, the vermouth's herbs, and the bitters' complexity."

"It's made from two parts of High West's Double Rye! Whiskey, one part sweet red vermouth, and two dashes of Angostura bitters for every 2.5 ounce serving. It was then aged in a 2-year-old rye whiskey barrel for 120 days. The addition of the vermouth lowers the pH and the percent alcohol by volume - both increasing the break down of the oak's hemi-cellulose, increasing the wood sugars that dissolve into the "cocktail" inside. Because a barrel "breaths", there's also some oxidation of the "cocktail." This mellows out the sharpness of the bitters and vermouth, making what we think is a darn fine elixir. We hope you enjoy tasting this as much as we did making it."

No tasting notes as this sits outside our rating categories, however, highly recommended.