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strongdrybitter

Brooklyn

Rye, dry vermouth, maraschino and a bitter amaro — the Manhattan's drier, more bitter relative.

Difficulty
medium
Prep time
4 min
Strength
27% ABV
Glassware
Coupe glass
Base
whisky
Serves
1

Related drinks

Ingredients

  • Rye whisky
    50ml
  • Dry vermouth
    25ml
  • Maraschino liqueur
    5ml
  • Amaro
    5ml

Garnish: Maraschino cherry

Scale for a party

Method

  1. Chill a coupe glass.
  2. Add the rye, dry vermouth, maraschino and amaro to a mixing glass with plenty of ice.
  3. Stir for about 30 seconds, until properly cold.
  4. Strain into the chilled coupe.
  5. Garnish with a cherry.

Equipment

Don't have everything? Here's what works instead.

  • Mixing glass

    Household swap: Any tall, sturdy glass or a small jug

Missing an ingredient?

Each swap below says what it changes and how to correct for it, so you can decide whether you are making this drink or a neighbouring one.

  • Instead of Rye Whisky

    Best substitute: Bourbon

    This is the base in this drink.

    Quantity: Use the same amount

    Flavour impact: Bourbon makes a rounder, sweeter, softer Brooklyn. It works, but the dryness that distinguishes this drink from a Manhattan is largely gone.

    What changes

    Expect more sweetness, less bitterness and less strength. Still a good drink, and a slightly different one.

    Sweetness ↑
    The drink will land sweeter, which also makes it read as less sharp and slightly heavier even though nothing else changed.
    Bitterness ↓
    Losing bitterness makes the drink rounder and more approachable, and takes away the structure that stopped it tasting like squash.
    Strength ↓
    Bourbon is 40% ABV against 45%. A weaker bottle makes a softer drink — genuinely pleasant, but a different drink from the one written down.
    Character
    you lose spicy, dry, peppery and assertive, and you gain sweet, caramel, vanilla and oaky. Numbers can't see this: two ingredients can be identically sour and still smell nothing alike.

    To correct for it

    • Cut the syrup or sugar back — start by halving it and taste before adding any back.
    • A dash of bitters restores some of the backbone without changing anything else.
    • Pour a fraction more, or shorten the dilution slightly, to keep the shape of the original.
    Moderate confidenceA common substitution, but it moves the drink noticeably back towards a Manhattan.Shifts the drinkBecomes a variation

  • Instead of Amaro

    Best substitute: Campari

    This is the bitter element in this drink.

    Quantity: Use a little less — around 4ml — as Campari is more assertive

    Flavour impact: Campari brings a sharper, more citrus-bitter edge in place of amaro's herbal depth. Recognisably the same drink, noticeably brighter.

    What changes

    Expect less sweetness, more bitterness and less strength. Still a good drink, and a slightly different one.

    Sweetness ↓
    Less sweetness leaves the acid and the spirit more exposed, so the drink will taste sharper and drier than it should.
    Bitterness ↑
    Bitterness builds across a drink rather than announcing itself, so this will read as a longer, drier finish.
    Strength ↓
    Campari is 25% ABV against 32%. A weaker bottle makes a softer drink — genuinely pleasant, but a different drink from the one written down.
    Character
    Both are herbal, and you lose bittersweet, complex and varies by style, and you gain bitter, citrusy and bold. Numbers can't see this: two ingredients can be identically sour and still smell nothing alike.

    To correct for it

    • Add a little more syrup, a small amount at a time, until the edges come back together.
    • Pour slightly less, or lengthen the drink a little, and let the sweetness catch up.
    • Pour a fraction more, or shorten the dilution slightly, to keep the shape of the original.
    Moderate confidenceA workable and widely-made swap, though Campari is more aggressive than the bitter orange liqueur the original used.Shifts the drink

Make it better

  • Rye rather than bourbon. Bourbon's sweetness fights the dry vermouth and blunts the bitterness that makes this drink what it is.
  • The original called for Amer Picon, which has not been made in its old form for decades. Any bitter orange-led amaro is the standard modern answer, and no version claims to be the original.
  • Both the maraschino and the amaro are small measures doing a lot of work. Measure them rather than pouring by eye.
  • Chill the glass in the freezer for a few minutes beforehand — a warm glass takes the edge off a well-made drink fast.
  • Stir, don't shake — stirring keeps a spirit-forward drink clear and silky instead of cloudy with air bubbles.

Rescue this drink

Tastes harsh rather than dry
Your dry vermouth is probably old. It is wine — refrigerate it after opening and use it within a month or two.
The bitterness dominates
Cut the amaro to 3ml. It is a seasoning here, not a component.
Tastes flat and one-note
Check you used rye rather than bourbon, and that you stirred long enough to get it genuinely cold.
So cold you cannot taste itgeneral guidance
Spirit-forward drinks served up have a window: too warm and the alcohol burns, too cold and the aromatics stop volatilising and the drink reads as flat and numb. If it arrives correct and improves over the first few minutes, you have over-chilled it — shorten the stir slightly rather than skipping the freezer glass, because a warm glass ruins more drinks than a cold one.
Cloudy when it should be cleargeneral guidance
Stirring aerates far less than shaking, and clarity is the whole reason to stir. A hazy stirred drink means it was stirred too hard, stirred with broken or wet ice, or shaken by mistake. Move the spoon around the wall of the glass rather than through the middle, and use whole dry cubes.
Too weak or waterygeneral guidance
Add a splash more of the base spirit rather than extra mixer. For stirred or built drinks, over-dilution from ice is the usual cause — try a shorter stir or fewer, larger ice cubes.
Too stronggeneral guidance
Stir or shake for a little longer to add dilution, or add a splash of chilled water. This is a spirit-forward drink by design, so some strength is expected.
Too sweetgeneral guidance
Add a small amount of fresh citrus juice or a dash of bitters to bring the balance back — adjust gradually and taste as you go.
Served too warmgeneral guidance
Chill the glass, ice and every ingredient ahead of time — a warm pour is the fastest way to lose a cold drink's balance. For one serving, there's no real fix beyond rebuilding it properly chilled; for a batch, keep everything refrigerated until the moment of serving and add ice last.
Over-diluted (tastes watery)general guidance
Likely stirred too long, or with too much ice surface area. For one serving there's no fixing it after the fact — rebuild with fewer, larger ice cubes and a shorter stir. Planning a batch? Shorten the ice-contact time across the whole round, not just this glass.
Missing the garnishgeneral guidance
No maraschino cherry? Lemon twist (A twist keeps the drink drier; the cherry is traditional and softens the finish slightly.)

Make ahead & storage

Batches well

Everything in this can be mixed days ahead and kept cold. It is one of the drinks to build a party menu around.

Add about 22% water to the batch to replace what the ice would otherwise contribute, or it will pour noticeably harsher than a fresh one.

What it tastes like

The taste, and what drives it

off-dry, soft, light — a spirit and modifier drink served straight up, no ice.

Off-dry

Dry → Sweet

Sweetened enough to take the edge off without reading as a sweet drink.

What drives it: Maraschino liqueur — carries the most sugar into the glass.

Bitter

Gentle → Bitter

Bitter enough to be one of the reasons you chose this drink.

What drives it: Amaro — provides the bitterness.

Light

Light → Rich

Light-bodied. It refreshes rather than satisfies, which is usually the intention.

What drives it: Rye whisky — adds most of the weight.

Very bold

Delicate → Bold

Very bold — concentrated, and served small for that reason.

What drives it: Rye whisky — is the most concentrated thing in the glass.

What you smell first

  • Baking spiceLeads

    From Rye whisky, Amaro

  • Fresh herbLeads

    From Dry vermouth, Amaro

  • Oak

    From Rye whisky

  • Floral

    From Dry vermouth

Every aroma here comes from the liquid itself; nothing is layered on top.

How it was worked out

Each reading comes from the recipe's own recorded taste scores combined with what each ingredient contributes, weighted by how much of it is in the glass. Almost everything in this drink has detailed ingredient data behind it.

How balance actually works →

If it isn't right

What goes wrong with this drink, and why

Only the faults this particular recipe is actually prone to — each with the likely cause, the adjustment, and what the adjustment costs you.

This drink is only as good as the vermouth in it

Degrades it

Vermouth is wine and oxidises within weeks of opening. A stale bottle is the single most common reason a stirred drink tastes dull rather than complex.

How to handle it: Refrigerate it after opening, buy the small bottle, and replace it more often than feels reasonable.

  • It's too sweet

    Likely cause
    Maraschino liqueur is carrying the sugar here, and it is the easiest thing in the drink to over-pour — syrup clings to a jigger and a "splash" is rarely the same twice.
    What to change
    Cut maraschino liqueur by about a third and rebuild. If it is already made, a squeeze of citrus is faster than starting again.
    What that does
    It will taste drier and slightly thinner — sugar carries body as well as sweetness, so you lose a little weight along with it.

  • It's too bitter

    Likely cause
    Amaro is doing this deliberately, but bitterness also *builds* across a drink rather than announcing itself — the last mouthful is more bitter than the first even though nothing changed.
    What to change
    Lengthen it slightly, or add a small amount of sweetener. Do not add more of anything sour; acid sharpens bitterness rather than covering it.
    What that does
    The bitterness softens and the drink gets longer. If you were hoping to keep it short and strong, this is the trade you are making.

  • It's too strong

    Likely cause
    Rye whisky dominates by design here — this is a drink built to be sipped, and it is under-diluted more often than it is over-poured.
    What to change
    Stirring for longer, or add a measured 5–10ml of water. Both are the same correction; one is just more honest about it.
    What that does
    Alcohol heat drops and the aromatics open up — a slightly diluted spirit-forward drink usually smells better, not worse.

  • It's watery

    Likely cause
    Stirring adds water while it chills, and the two cannot be separated. Wet ice from a freezer door, or small cubes, will over-dilute before the drink is properly cold.
    What to change
    Use bigger, drier, colder ice and stop sooner. Chilling the glass first buys you time you would otherwise spend diluting.
    What that does
    More flavour concentration at the same temperature. Under-dilute instead and the drink will taste harsh — this is a target, not a direction.

  • It doesn't smell of anything

    Likely cause
    This drink's aroma comes from baking spice and fresh herb, carried in the liquid. Serving it too cold suppresses that: volatile compounds do not leave a very cold drink.
    What to change
    Let it sit for a minute before drinking, and use a glass that narrows towards the rim to concentrate what does escape.
    What that does
    More of the aroma escapes and the drink reads as more intense. The cost is temperature: a drink left to warm also dilutes faster, so this is a trade against how long it stays right.

  • It tastes one-dimensional

    Likely cause
    With 4 components there is nowhere for complexity to hide — a spirit and modifier drink is exposed by design, so a dull one is usually a dull ingredient rather than a missing step.
    What to change
    Change the quality of what is there before adding anything new: fresh citrus rather than bottled, a better base bottle, a dash of bitters. Bitters add layers at a scale nothing else matches.
    What that does
    More going on at the same strength and sweetness. Adding a whole extra ingredient instead usually produces a muddier drink rather than a deeper one.

Taste profile

Sweetness
2/5
Sourness
0/5
Bitterness
3/5
Strength
4/5
Fruitiness
1/5
Freshness
0/5
Creaminess
0/5
Smokiness
0/5

Nutrition & alcohol

Estimate onlyCalculated from standard strengths with roughly 22% stirring dilution; amaro sugar varies widely by brand.
Calories
180 kcal
Sugar
6 g
Carbohydrates
7 g
Alcohol units (UK)
2.4
US standard drinks
1.37
ABV
27%
Serving size
90 ml
Show calculation assumptions

Source: Calculated from standard measures

Calorie breakdown: ~134 kcal from alcohol, ~46 kcal from sugar and mixers.

Likely range: 135–225 kcal, reflecting the confidence level above — not a lab-measured figure.

Assumes rye at 45% ABV, dry vermouth at 17%, maraschino at 32%, amaro at 25%, and about 22% stirring dilution.

These figures are estimates, not laboratory measurements — individual tolerance to alcohol varies. See our responsible drinking guidance.

Variations

  • Red Hook

    Punt e Mes in place of dry vermouth and maraschino kept — a sweeter, more bitter modern riff from the same borough.

  • Greenpoint

    Yellow Chartreuse and sweet vermouth alongside the rye — herbal where the Brooklyn is bitter.

What kind of drink this is

The structure behind the recipe

A stirred build: a spirit and modifier whisky-based drink, served straight up, no ice — silky and dense in the mouth.

Spirit and modifier

Spirit combined with an aromatised or flavoured modifier and little else — concentrated, and served small for exactly that reason.

  • Base

    Rye whisky

  • Modifier

    Dry vermouth

  • Sweet element

    Maraschino liqueur

  • Bitter element

    Amaro

Drinks built this way are collected as the Manhattan family.

Technique

stirred

The liquid is moved around the ice rather than against it, so it chills and dilutes with almost no air incorporated and almost no ice broken up.

A heavy, silky, completely clear drink. Alcohol reads more sharply than in the same drink shaken, because nothing has softened it.

What it ruins: Nothing outright, but it will not combine egg, dairy or thick syrup — those need force.

Everything about stirring →How the technique works →

Dilution

During mixing, then strained

Water from ice typically makes up around 25% of the finished drink for a stirred build (commonly 20–30%). Dilution is an ingredient here, not a side effect.

Why dilution is an ingredient →

Served

Straight up, no ice

Coupe glass · 90ml

Chilled during mixing and then strained away from the ice, so it arrives at its coldest and most concentrated and warms from the first sip — which is why 90ml is the right size for it.

Texture and aroma

Silky and denseAmaro

Stirred without aeration, the drink stays heavy and slightly viscous in the mouth.

These components are doing aromatic work: you meet them at the nose before the first sip, and they shape how everything underneath reads.

Where to go from here

Each of these is here because of something specific about this drink, not as a standard set of links.

Where it comes from

Origin and family

Origin of the Brooklyn

First recorded in the early twentieth century as one of a set of New York borough cocktails. The original specified Amer Picon, which is no longer produced in its original formulation, so every modern version is a reconstruction.

Modern bar-standard proportions using a bitter amaro in place of the discontinued Amer Picon formulation.

Family

Manhattan

2 parts aged spirit · 1 part sweet vermouth · 2 dashes bitters — stirred, served up or over a large cube.

On drinks history

Cocktail origin stories are frequently repeated and rarely evidenced. Our history section separates what is documented from what is folklore rather than picking whichever version reads best.

History and culture →

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Related tools

Scale this for a party

Work out bottles, mixers, ice and total alcohol units for any number of guests.

Recipe confidence

Well documented historically, but the key modifier is unavailable, so modern recipes vary in what replaces it.

Moderate confidence