The Bar Journal

An increasing number of bartenders are experimenting with aging cocktails.

Aged cocktails, which we spotted as an emerging trend last year, are taking off. They were made popular in the US last year by Portland, Oregon, based mixologist Jeffrey Morgenthaler (of the Clyde Common bar) who had tasted an aged Manhattan made by London’s Tony Conigliaro.

Tony Conigliaro, mixologist and owner of the 69 Colebrook Row bar in Islington, London, was himself short listed for the Cocktail Spirited Awards in New Orleans in July 2010. He stores batches of Manhattan, El Presidente and Harvard cocktauils in his cellar in glass vessels. He explains: “In what becomes a vintage Manhattan, the vermouth and bitters become smoother. Rye Bourbon and a simple vermouth work best’.

Morgenthaler began experimenting with a Mahattan. “I had a one-gallon cask that had previously held Madeira, so I filled it with the Manhattan” he recalls. At first his customers were skeptical. “But after ageing it for 2 months and popping it open it was amazing. It sold out in a few days”.

This trend continues to grow, with Morgenthaler’s blog serving as a catalyst for other curious-minded mixologists who are aging a growing variety of cocktails and placing them on notable menus across the US.

After appearing last year at New York’s Summit Bar and Dram, aged cocktails can be found at a growing number of establishments. Most recently, New York City entrepreneur Gabriel Stulman opened his latest venture, Fedora. Located in the city’s West Village, Fedora features a foray into the world of aged cocktails, offering an aged Rittenhouse rye Manhattan and the restaurant’s namesake drink, The Fedora, which is a blend of aged rum, brandy, bourbon and orange Curaçao.

As the trend expands, so does the variety of aged drinks and methods used. Also entering the aging game is Kevin Denton, beverage director at New York’s Gramercy Park Hotel, who has announced plans to fill a barrel with sherry, let it rest, empty it, then refill it with a tequila-based cocktail. Benjamin Schiller, head mixologist of Chicago restaurant, Girl & the Goat, is putting Buffalo Trace bourbon Manhattans back into a Buffalo Trace barrel, and serving patrons cocktails aged one month, two months and three months, either separately, or as a flight.

Meanwhile Grant Achatz and Craig Schoettler, also in Chicago, have opened the high-concept bar, Aviary, where they will be aging neutral grain spirit, rum and Batavia arrack in Heaven Hill whiskey barrels that were previously used to age maple syrup and vinegar. The end product, according to Mr. Achatz, is reminiscent of a Shrub, a centuries-old class of vinegar-laced cocktail.