A little off subject: while staying at Portofino one year we ended up in the lobby bar there one night. We sat at the bar and I watched as another patron ordered some drink that fascinated me as I watched the bartender make it. It was the way he did it: bourbon, something else, something else, something else, shake, strain, pour. The only thing I remember was it included Woodford Reserve bourbon and bitters. I never at the time thought to ask what it was (I might have been incapable of forming the right sentence at the time).
It didn't register at the time but for some reason this lingered with me to the point of obsession: what was that drink? It looked sooooo good at the time. I started researching and after much digging I believe it was a Manhattan: bourbon, sweet vermouth, bitters, with muddled cherries and cherry juice. I began to make them myself but something was missing. The drink at the bar poured out very creamy looking and, try as I might, I can not to this day get that same creamy appearing texture. Did the bartender slip something special into the recipe?
I'm on a mission for our trip this November: make my way to that bar, order a Woodford Manhattan, and pray that same recipe is used. Write the recipe out. Then I'll have my answer. At the least, a well-made Manhattan.
