Black Manhattan

The Black Manhattan is widely credited to bartender Todd Smith of Bourbon & Branch in San Francisco, who developed the cocktail in 2005 around the beginning of the modern craft-cocktail revival. There are a few detailed historical accounts placing its creation elsewhere in SF, one of which claims San Francisco's Cortez restaurant was first before Smith brought it to Bourbon & Branch. Bourbon & Branch, a speakeasy-style cocktail bar famous for its devotion to historically inspired drinks and inventive bartending.

The original cocktail may also have been different in proportions: one credible account traces an earlier version using bourbon instead of rye, Amaro Averna, and Todd Smith's house-made cherry-coffee bitters. Regardless, by around 2008, the drink had evolved into the now established combination of rye, Averna, Angostura, and orange bitters.

The Black Manhattan also arrived at the right cultural moment. American bartenders were rediscovering Italian amari and seeking ways to incorporate it into the classics. The drink gave bartenders a straightforward way to introduce American whiskey drinkers to Italian bitter liqueurs.