To make a Smoky Manhattan whiskey cocktail you can try using a smoky whiskey, like a peaty whisky from Islay in Scotland, or use a Foghat Cocktail Smoker.

The Manhattan is one of the world's classic whiskey cocktails, with an interesting if uncertain history [insert link] behind it. It's a drink that's been around for over 150 years, so it's clearly here to stay. When you've tried a few slight variations on the classic recipe (bourbon instead of rye whiskey, say), you might want to take the recipe to the next level and try to make a Smoky Manhattan.

How to Make a Smoky Manhattan the Easy Way

There may be a classic recipe for the Manhattan (5 cl rye, 2 cl sweet red vermouth, dash of Angostura bitters) but there's no classic recipe for the Smoky Manhattan as it can be made in several different ways.

One way to make a Smoky Manhattan is quite easy. Instead of rye whiskey, use a smoky whiskey. And the easiest way to do that is choose a whisky from the island of Islay in Scotland, whose distilleries are noted for their smoky and peaty aromas and flavors. You're spoiled for choice. Try Bruichladdich, Laphroaig, Lagavulin, Caol Ila, or an Ardbeg - the Ardbeg Wee Beastie is one we really enjoyed recently.

If you're not a fan of peaty scotches, then you could perhaps try a 50/50 mix of scotch and bourbon to tone down the smoky nature of the Manhattan. It's also a good way to slowly acquire a taste for peaty drinks, as these are, after all, amongst some of the greatest whiskies made. It's a shame to miss out on enjoying them because you've taken one sip of a really peaty whisky and didn't like it. It can be an acquired taste but it's a taste well worth acquiring.

Making a Smoky Manhattan Another Way

There are other ways to adapt the basic recipe to provide you with a smoky cocktail. You could add a dash of paprika or chipotle powder for that smoky taste - but don't go wild! If you look around online you can also find chipotle bitters, which you could use instead of the Angostura bitters.

Then, although it's no longer strictly a Manhattan, you could substitute the smoky Mexican spirit mezcal for the rye whiskey. You'd have something you might call a Mexihattan.

The Best Way to Make a Smoky Manhattan

One final way to make a Smoky Manhattan is arguably the most authentic way, as you still use the original classic recipe. None of your nit-picking friends can argue and say, 'Well it's not really a Manhattan.

Take the original recipe given above, and scale it up for however many drinks you want to make. Put all the ingredients in one suitably-sized glass, and mix them thoroughly. Use a Foghat Cocktail Smoker to infuse the Manhattan with smoke. Try the Whiskey Barrel Oak Smoking Fuel, or go for broke and use the Peat Bog Fog for a truly smoky result.

Let the glass rest for three minutes. Swirl the cocktail around again with a cocktail spoon to thoroughly mix the ingredients, including the smoke. Pour over ice in a cocktail glass or a lowball glass. Savor the aromas and sip. Now that's the best way to make a Smoky Manhattan!

by Mike Gerrard

Can you make Peach Moonshine from scratch, and if so then how do you do it and what is the best and easiest way to make Peach Moonshine?

If you want to make peach moonshine from scratch then you certainly can. Well, almost from scratch as if you want to make your own moonshine you should first read our post on Is It Legal to Make Whiskey at Home? [insert link] The same laws apply to making moonshine at home, or any other kind of spirit.

What Is Moonshine?

Firstly, what is moonshine anyway? It isn't just an American term for hooch made in the backwoods of Appalachia. Countries all around the world have their equivalent of alcohol that's been distilled at home using local ingredients.

Making moonshine is usually illegal, though this doesn't stop it happening widely, particularly in traditionally poor rural areas. In the past, even if legal alcohol was available, not everyone could afford to buy it, so it's only natural some people would try their hand at making their own. After all, the skills of distilling have been around for a few thousand years.

In Ireland, as one well-known example, they call it poteen (pronounced pocheen) and it's often made from potatoes, the country's most widely-grown crop. In Greece they call it raki or tsipouro, and it's made from what's left of the grapes after the winemakers have finished with them. In the USA it's called moonshine and often made from corn.

What Is Peach Moonshine?

If peaches are grown widely, as they are in parts of the USA and Southern Europe, for example, then you can make moonshine from them. They provide their own sugar, to help the fermentation process. In the USA it's called peach moonshine while in other countries it might be called peach brandy or peach schnapps.

The main concern is a financial one. Peaches usually fetch a high price, so it's more profitable for the grower to sell them than to make moonshine from them. However, there will always be some peaches that are imperfect, so why throw them out when you can make perfectly good liquor from them?

Peach Moonshine Recipes

There are numerous recipes online for making peach moonshine, and they don't all involve using a peach brandy or peach schnapps as the base spirit. Some use white spirit, some blend white spirit with peach juice.

Some recipes use a grain alcohol called Everclear, produced by Luxco, and available at differing strengths according to your needs: 60%, 75.5%, 94.5% and 95% ABC (120, 151, 189 and 190 proof). It's potent stuff but remember that if you make a spirit that's too strong for you, you can always dilute it later with pure filtered water down to your preferred strength. After all, that's what distillers do unless they're making a cask strength spirit.

The Best Way to Make Peach Moonshine from Scratch

Some of the recipes for peach moonshine are quite complicated and involve tracking down several ingredients and then following complex instructions. You also often have to wait several days for the peach moonshine to be ready. The quickest, easiest and best way to make peach moonshine from scratch is with a Moonshine Magic moonshine making kit.

The Moonshine Making Kit is perfectly legal as you have to provide the base spirit. The kits come with a reusable 1-liter ceramic moonshine jar, and the essence for making three distinct moonshine flavors, including peach. The Peach Essence includes natural extracts, essences, and oils, and some caramel color of the kind often used by distilleries to add a little color to whiskies, rums, and other spirits. (They don't usually shout about it, but they do it.)

For the spirits, you can use Everclear or an inexpensive plain vodka. Costco sells vodka that is both cheap and better-than-average bottom-shelf vodka. Later (the moonshine jar is endlessly re-usable) you can experiment and try a corn or rye-based whiskey or bourbon. Only use small amounts of this at first, and you may want to mix it with some vodka initially, so as not to overpower the peach flavor, which is after all what you're looking for. This is by far the best and quickest way to make peach moonshine from scratch.

by Mike Gerrard

There are several ways of making a smoky margarita, like using mezcal instead of tequila, or you can put on a show and use the Foghat Cocktail Smoker.

Several weeks ago we enjoyed a smoky margarita without having to make it. It was a cocktail in a can and was so delicious my wife said: 'We have to learn how to make these.'

How to Make a Smoky Margarita the Easy Way

Looking online, there were lots of recipes for making smoky margaritas, some easier than others. The easiest way of all is simply to use mezcal instead of tequila. Most mezcals are naturally smoky, because of the way they're made.

What is Mezcal?

Mezcal is a spirit made from agave plants in certain areas of Mexico. Technically tequila is a mezcal as it's made from the blue agave, but it has its own specific rules. Mezcals are made from any agave apart from the blue agave. With tequila, the agave hearts, known as piņas, are baked in an oven. With mezcal, they are smoked in a pit in the ground, hence the smoky flavor, although not all mezcals are heavily smoky.

My Easy Smoky Margarita Cocktail Recipe

(Makes 4 glasses)

6 oz mezcal

3 oz triple sec

3 oz lime juice (reduced to 2 oz if using fresh key lime juice)

4 cups ice cubes

Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend until mushy (to use a technical term). If your mezcal is very smoky, you might want to try equal parts of mezcal and tequila to tone it down a little.

Other Ways to Make a Smoky Margarita

If you don't have any mezcal in hand (and it is harder to come by than tequila) then there are several other ways to make a smoky margarita. With the above basic margarita recipe you could add half a teaspoon of smoked paprika to the blend. You can also mix some paprika with some salt and rim the glass with it, too, for a showier look than salt alone.

Another option, instead of paprika, is to finely chop 2-3 slices of jalapeno and blend that into the mix. Be careful, though, till you know just how hot your jalapenos are. They also add spice as well as a slightly smoky flavor. Instead of the paprika or the jalapeno, you could instead add no more than a quarter teaspoon of chipotle powder to the cocktail. Chipotle is, of course, smoked jalapeno so you get both heat and smoke in your margarita.

How to Make a Smoky Margarita the Fun Way

After a few experiments, we forgot our Smoky Margarita phase and went back to our usual lazy pre-dinner standbys, like Gin and Tonics or Vodka and OJ. Then the Foghat Cocktail Smoker kit arrived.

The obvious first choice to try to make a smoky drink was with a Scottish whisky. I took a Speyburn 10-year-old from Speyside, partly because the bottle was almost gone and there was just enough for a couple of not-so-wee drams, and partly because the whisky was only slightly smoky. The Foghat worked its magic and did something on a par with turning water into wine - it turned a Speyside whisky into more of a peaty whisky from Islay.

Then I had that lightbulb moment - of course, smoky margaritas! I made a fresh batch of our regular margaritas, using the recipe above (but with tequila, of course). I put some fresh wood chips into the Foghat. These were the Whiskey Barrel Oak ones, but I figured they would work just as well. And boy, did they work!

The margaritas were just as good as the ones made with mezcal, and just as good as the canned cocktails that kicked the whole thing off in the first place. It also had me wondering if I could smoke tequila and make my own mezcal? That's for another time, but thanks to the Foghat I can't wait to show friends how to make a Smoky Margarita.

by Mike Gerrard

The history of the Manhattan cocktail goes back to 19th century Manhattan and here's the story of the Manhattan, who invented it, and a classic cocktail recipe.

The history of the Manhattan cocktail can certainly be traced back to New York's Manhattan in the late 19th century, but the exact details are not known for sure.

Was the Manhattan Invented at The Manhattan Club?

The Manhattan Club in New York, which is still going strong as a 4-star hotel, claims that the Manhattan cocktail was invented there. It was first created, they say, in 1874 for a banquet being held there by Jennie Jerome to honor the politician, Samuel J. Tilden.

Tilden was Governor of New York and went on to run as the Democratic candidate in the 1876 presidential election. He became the first candidate to win the popular vote but lose the election. That 1876 election had all the drama, and more, of recent US elections.

1874 was also the year that Jennie Jerome, who was born in Brooklyn, married Lord Randolph Churchill of Great Britain, and became Lady Randolph Churchill. According to one biography, Jerome was already pregnant with their first child at the time of their marriage. That child was named Winston, and went on to become the British Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, who led the country through World War II.

However, there's one problem with this story. On the date the banquet was held, Lady Churchill was in either England or France, but certainly not in New York.

When Was the Manhattan Cocktail Invented?

The Manhattan was definitely around by the early 1880s as it was first mentioned by name in a New York newspaper in 1882. In 1884 two versions of the cocktail recipe were included in a book by O.H.Byron called The Modern Bartender's Guide. From then on, the Manhattan was a regular in books of cocktail recipes.

Who Invented the Manhattan Cocktail?

Another account explaining the history of the Manhattan cocktail comes from a bartender, William F. Mulhall. Mulhall worked at the Hoffman House, a famous hotel that used to stand on Broadway and 25th Street. He began working there in the early 1880s and around that time he said that the Manhattan was invented in the 1860s by a bartender named Black, who worked at a nearby bar on Broadway.

The History of the Manhattan Cocktail

To sum up, all we really know about the history of the Manhattan cocktail is that it probably was created somewhere in Manhattan around the 1860s-1870s.

Manhattan Cocktail Recipe

The standard Manhattan cocktail recipe includes just three ingredients: whiskey, vermouth, and bitters. In the late 19th century the whiskey of choice was rye, and the recipe recommended today by the International Bartenders Association still specifies rye:

Ingredients

5 cl Rye whiskey

2 cl Sweet red vermouth

Dash Angostura bitters

Method

Stir over ice, strain into a chilled glass, garnish with a cherry or lemon slice, and serve in a cocktail glass or over ice in a lowball glass.

Even though there are only three ingredients, this still allows for some variations on the classic recipe. If you like bourbon, use bourbon. During Prohibition, Canadian whisky became the spirit used as it was easier to get hold of. You can also try different kinds of vermouth or bitters. You could try using both sweet vermouth and dry vermouth in the same drink, instead of the standard sweet vermouth.

You can also use brandy to turn it into a Brandy Manhattan, or use moonshine to make a Blonde Manhattan. If you use Scotch whisky instead of American rye, then you've made a Rob Roy. However you make it, though, you now at least know the history of the Manhattan cocktail.

by Mike Gerrard

Curing Your Barrel

First rinse the inside of the barrel by filling and emptying 2 or 3 times to remove any wood debris. Prior to use, your barrel must be filled with water for approximately 3 to 5 days. This will allow the oak to expand and retain liquid. (the barrel may leak until cured) After this initial curing period, place the barrel on the holder in a dry area. Liquid will continue to slowly drain through the wood for the following 3 to 7 days. Keep the barrel filled during this time. When the barrel stops draining, empty the contents and rinse again. You are now ready to fill with your spirits.

Filling with Spirits

When filling your barrel with spirits, fill the barrel completely removing all air. Place the cork in tightly. Air inside the barrel can spoil the aging process.

Reconditioning Your Barrel

In preparation for reusing your barrel after the initial use, the barrel may need to be reconditioned. This should always be done when aging wine. Fill your barrel with a cleaning solution such as Soda ash or Barolkleen (454g of Barolkleen per 5 gallons of water) and let it soak in the barrel for 2 to 3 days. This solution will remove excessive tannins.

For additional info on cleaning your barrel see our Barrel Cleaning Kit.

Storage

Barrels should be stored in a cool place and away from sunlight. This will protect both the exterior of the barrel and the aging spirits inside. In time liquid will be absorbed by the barrel or evaporate, generally about 5% over 2 years, this is called the "Angels' Share". Dry climates or heated homes tend to cause more evaporation.

Maintaining your Barrel

Over time the exterior of your barrel will show wear. Lightly sand your barrel with a fine sandpaper. Wipe off any debris with a clean cloth, and apply a coat of water based varnish on the outside of the barrel.

Barrels left without liquid will dry quickly and no longer hold liquid without leaking. If this occurs, begin the curing / reconditioning process again.

How to clean your barrel:

Mix 4 oz of Barolkleen with 1.25 gallons of hot water. Soak for 3 days rolling the barrel regularly. Drain and flush 3 times with hot water. Allow barrel to drain for at least 1 hour.

Remove the spigot. Light the sulfur strip and submerge in the barrel through the bung hole. Do not drop the lit sulfur strip into the barrel.

Mix 1oz citric acid with 2 gallons of water. Pour the solution into the barrel and swish it around for 5 minutes. Empty the barrel.

Rinse and empty the barrel 3 times with hot water, each time briskly shaking the barrel. Allow the barrel to drain for 3 hours before filling.

What are the oak barrels made from?

Our barrels are made from premium quality American White Oak. The staves are air dried for two years and all barrels have a medium char.

Are glues or nails used to make the barrel?

No, our barrels are all hand crafted with no use of glues or nails.

How should the barrel be stored?

Barrels are best stored in a cool damp environment such as a wine cellar. This will keep the exterior from drying out and minimize evaporation.  

How many times can I use my barrel?

With proper care, you can use your barrel for 8 to 10 years. Following the cleaning and re-charing instructions will insure a long life for your product and be sure to not let your barrel dry out.

I left my barrel dry for an extended time. Now it leaks... what do I do?

In many cases just re-cure the barrel. If it continues leaking, submerge the barrel in water for a couple of days. After it's been submerged, dry the exterior with a towel and fill it with water to see if it continues to leak. If so, find the leak and apply barrel wax to the hole... If you can't stop the leaking... cut in half and use as a planter!

How often do I clean my barrel?

When aging hard spirits such as whiskey, rum or tequila, clean the barrel after two or three batches (or every 1 to 2 years). For wine, cider, liquor or other low alcohol content spirits, clean after each batch.

How do I clean  my barrel?

1) Dissolve the Barrel-Kleen into warm water. Fill the barrel with this cleaning solution and soak for 24 hours. Empty and rinse 3 times with hot water.

2) Dissolve the Neutralizing Acid into warm water. Fill the barrel with this neutralizing solution and soak for 15 minutes. Empty and rinse the barrel 3 times with hot water.

3) To re-char the barrel interior, drain the barrel for 3 hours. Place a butane torch in the bung and spigot hole and re-char the inside.

To prevent the barrel from drying out and minimize the possibility of contamination, barrels should always be stored full with spirits or water with sterilizing solution.

***See cleaning package directions for exact mixture quantities.

How do I store my barrel?

When storing the barrel fill the barrel with a mixture of sterilizing tablets and cool water. Fill the barrel with the solution and leave in a cool damp place until you are ready to use again.

The hoops are loose or have fallen off... What do I do?

Our barrels are handmade without the use of any nails. As the wood dries the barrel shrinks and hoops loosen. Hooping is fitted in location but is only stabilized after the curing process when the barrel swells into place due to the expansion of the wood. Simply hand force the hoop into its proper location and slightly tap the banding’s side with a blunt item around the entire circumference of the barrel until tight. Then proceed to the curing process.

When I opened the box and pulled out the barrel, I hear something inside the barrel rattling...?

It is common for the barrel to have small pieces of wood inside. Your barrel is charred internally and can cause pieces from the inside to separate from the body. THIS IS GOOD NEWS! The more charred surface contact with the spirit, the faster it will age. Simply strain the spirit before drinking.

How do I insert my spigot?

Please be conscious that your spigot is the most delicate part of your new barrel. You will have to hand force the spigot into the hole as far as it will go. Turn the movable top piece to the side then tap in using a rubber mallet or hammer with a towel or shock absorbent material to prevent it from being “cracked”.On a side note please remember that once your spigot is in place to make sure it is at the proper angle, as once it is cured the spigot will swell as well and be permanently in that position

How do I cure my barrel?

All barrels need to swell to ensure proper function. Use boiling or hot water and fill your barrel to the top through the bung hole. When doing this, place in an area that allows for seepage coming through the wood (i.e. kitchen sink, outside, tub etc…) Although there may be no leaks immediately, the wood does need to swell internally for a period of time before use, a minimum of 3-5 days is preferred. Curing the wood will minimize the absorption of precious spirit into the body of the barrel.

DO NOT SUBMERGE YOUR BARREL IN WATER!!!

My barrel is taking on a blackish color:

This is referred to as “leaching”. All barrels can produce a discoloration during the curing process. As the water makes its way through the wood, it will push out coloration from anything in its way. This is perfectly normal and seen in all commercial barrels in the beer, wine and distilling world.

When I turn my spigot, nothing is coming out:

Physics 101…remove the bung when dispensing to release pressure and allow for airflow.

After many months, there’s little (or no) spirit:

Smaller barrels age 8-10 times faster than a full sized version. Therefore, the “angel’s share” (natural evaporation) is also increased. Due to its rapid aging process most spirits are at their optimum result within 1 to 3 months. Taste periodically and when accepted best to your pallet remove the contents into a bottle with appropriate aging notes and begin your next batch. If there are teenagers in your home, you may also want to investigate the “My Little Angels Share” option.