Manhattan

The Glass Key, Dashiell Hammett, 1931

2 oz. rye whiskey

⅔ oz. sweet vermouth

2 drops of aromatic bitters

1 maraschino cherry, for garnish

Chill a cocktail glass in the freezer. Place the rye, vermouth, and bitters in a mixing glass, fill it two-thirds of the way with ice, and stir until chilled.

Strain into the chilled glass, garnish with the maraschino cherry, and enjoy.

The bar-tender, a fat man with a spongy nose, said: “Evening, Ned. We ain’t been seeing you much lately.”

“Lo, Jimmy. Been behaving. Manhattan.”

The bar-tender began to mix the cocktail. The orchestra finished its piece. A woman’s voice rose thin and shrill: “I won’t stay in the same place with that Beaumont bastard.”

The Glass Key is a classic detective story from the man who created Sam Spade and The Maltese Falcon. In this story, the protagonist is one Ned Beaumont, an amateur detective whose connections to organized crime hardly make him a sterling example of a hero. In this case, he’s investigating the murder of a senator’s son that seems to have far more sinister implications.

But of course, being a tough-as-nails detective, he has to drink regularly. In this scene, his drink of choice is the old reliable Manhattan, a blend of rye whiskey, sweet vermouth, and bitters. One story says that it was originally created for Lady Randolph Churchill (Winston Churchill’s mother), when she threw a lavish party at New York’s legendary Manhattan Club in 1874.