Discover New York City’s Cocktail Gem

Brooklyn is no longer under the shadow of Manhattan. Rents have soared on the other side of the East River and for good reason. NYC’s most populated borough is rich with history, culture and cuisine. Plus, New York City’s biggest borough is home to some of the city’s best bagel shops, bakeries and pizzerias.

Alas, the same can’t be said about the Brooklyn cocktail. While bartenders around the world serve more than a few Manhattans to thirsty drinkers, many mixologists don’t bother with the Brooklyn. The potent potable named after the ‘other’ borough just isn’t that popular.

Since we’ve seen more than a few Brooklyn wannabes in cities as diverse as Bucharest, Helsinki and Lisbon during our travels, we won’t be surprised when and if this status changes. Maybe Brooklyn (the cocktail) needs a better PR rep.

Fun Fact
Brooklyn and Manhattan aren’t the only NYC boroughs with signature cocktails. The Bronx and Queens have them too. Sorry Staten Island!

The Brooklyn is a pre-prohibition cocktail crafted with rye whiskey, dry vermouth, maraschino liqueur and amaro. It’s also a strong cocktail with not even one mixer in its ingredient list.

Yes, this tasty tipple will knock your socks off if you drink too many. Luckily, it’s the kind of drink best enjoyed slowly – one sip at a time.

Discover more of our favorite Pre-Prohibition cocktails.

Despite its relative anonymity, the Brooklyn cocktail is no neophyte.

While history is fuzzy as to its exact origin, The Brooklyn cocktail dates back to at least 1908. That’s the year that Jacob Grohusko, a Manhattan bartender, made the drink famous by including the cocktail’s recipe in his original Jack’s Manual.

The Brooklyn’s fame was solidified when Harry Craddock included the same recipe in the iconic book, The Savoy Cocktail, 22 years later. However, the Brooklyn fell out of favor for awhile.

Recently, however, we’ve noticed the Brooklyn popping up on bar menus both in New York City and beyond. Perhaps the centenarian cocktail’s history is yet to fully unfold.

We’ll be impressed if you have all of the following Brooklyn ingredients on hand:

Ingredient quantities are detailed in the printable recipe card below.

You should be able to any missing ingredients at your local liquor store or online. The only challenge may be finding the best the right amaro – more about that later.

Rye distilled in the USA is similar to American bourbon with one key exception – it must be distilled with at least 51% rye.

Bulliet is clearly an over-achiever since its rye whiskey is made with 95% rye and 5% malted barley. Produced in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, it has a 45% ABV. Simultaneously spicy and fruity, the award-winning rye tastes great both on the rocks and in cocktails like the Brooklyn.

Unlike sweet vermouth, which is typically ruby red and produced in Italy, dry vermouth is white and has French roots. Most people have a bottle of the fortified wine at home since it’s a mandatory martini ingredient. It’s also a great substitute for white wine when cooking.

We keep a bottle of Noilly Prat dry vermouth in our liquor cabinet. We like that its recipe has 14 botanicals. It has an ABV of 18%.

Discover our favorite dry vermouth cocktails.

Finding the right amaro will be your biggest challenge.

The classic cocktails’s original recipe called for Amer Picon, a bitter French amer with orange undertones. Since that liqueur is difficult to find in America, most bartenders replace Amer Picon with an Italian amaro. We did the same when we added Ramazzotti to our Brooklyn recipe.

Pernod Ricard produces Ramazzotti in Milan with 33 aromatic botanicals and a 30% ABV. We were attracted to this particular amaro because of the Calabrian oranges in its ingredient list.

Pro Tip
Add a couple dashes on Angostura bitters if you don’t have a bottle of amer or amaro on hand.

Luxardo produces our preferred maraschino liqueur. No surprise there since we’re obsessed with the Italian company’s maraschino cherries.

We initially bought a bottle of Luxardo maraschino liqueur, which has a 32% ABV, to craft Hemingway Daiquiris and have since used it to craft cocktails like the Aviation, Martinez and Last Word. We can now add the Brooklyn to this esteemed cocktail list.

Discover our favorite maraschino liqueur cocktails.

We mentioned that we’re obsessed with Luxardo cherries and that hasn’t changed over the years.

We regularly garnish cocktails with these Italian cherries and add them to bowls of vanilla ice cream. We also use the ebony orbs in food recipes and on cheese plates.

The first step in our Brooklyn recipe is to measure the four liquors. We use a Japanese jigger in this and other cocktail recipes to ensure accurate measurements and clean pours.

Buy a Japanese jigger from Amazon if you need a jigger or want an inexpensive upgrade.

Strain the cocktail into a coupe glass.

Pro Tip
While you could technically use a different type of glass, a coupe glass works best in this recipe.

While you have to travel to New York to decide if Brooklyn is your favorite borough, you can make your decision about the Brooklyn cocktail at home. If you’re not enamored with its taste, craft one of the following classic cocktails instead:

Did you craft this cocktail? If so, please rate the recipe below.

Thirsty for More Rye Cocktails?