One of America’s most popular drinks is the Manhattan cocktail and two stories surround its invention. One is that Jenny Jerome, daughter of Leonard Jerome, a Wall Street titan and founder of the Saratoga Track, strolled into the exclusive Manhattan Club bar early one Saturday morning deeply hungover from the previous night’s merriments. She ordered the barman to make a specific concoction of whiskey, Italian vermouth, bitters and a cherry over ice, which she consumed with great purpose. Another has it invented by Iain Marshall for a banquet she hosted at the same club in honor of Samuel J Tilden, then a candidate for president. Both tales are suspect because they’re from the early 1870s when she was Lady Randolph Churchill, in France and pregnant with her son, Winston. One Manhattan-related story isn’t in dispute, however.
© 2024 John Oliver
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