The summer heat fades. The grape vine whispers about New York’s death rattle. How could the city that never sleeps, ever truly perish? I think about New York as much as any Angeleno. In many ways, it’s the antithesis of here: tall and slender versus wide and spread out. Its famous five boroughs angst, our languid, surfer sprawl. In many other ways, we’re siblings. Stories pass back and forth more often than the hourly jetliners that used to fill the sky. That Manhattan skyline floats like a dream, but for now all we can do is pour ourselves something reminiscent of it, the Manhattan Skye.
My father spent many of his working years on those jetliners flying between Manhattan and L.A. A Manhattan remains his drink, and he uses the well-known fatherly trick of an extra spoonful of the maraschino cherry juice.
Both cities are home to a contemporary art gallery known as Hauser & Wirth. Inside the one in my city’s Arts District lies a restaurant known as Manuela. They make a Manhattan with Ardbeg Corryvreckan that remains a stiff and excellent Sunday brunch staple.
Talisker 10 Year was the first bottle of Scotch I ever bought myself. And as the sun sets over Los Angeles, I find myself dreaming of New York’s skyline. Both things remain close to my heart, but only the Whisky is within my grasp. Between the two, a play on the Rob Roy and the traditional Rye Manhattan cocktails only seems right. We call it a Manhattan Skye because of the Whisky distillery’s location on the Isle of Skye in Scotland.
Manhattan Skye
- 2 oz Talisker 10 Year Old
- 0.75 Sweet vermouth 25ml
- Two dashes Angostura bitters
- Ice cube
Fill a mixing glass with ice cubes. Add the Angostura bitters, Talisker and sweet Vermouth. Stir briskly. Add one large ice cube to a rocks glass and strain mixture over the cube.