Marky Marc Manhattan

Marky Marc Manhattan

Near the end of an interview with Alpana Singh at her new restaurant, Seven Lions, the subject of marc came up. I was researching marc for an upcoming Tribune article, and Singh used to serve it when she was somm at Everest, so I was interested in her perspective.

Marc, as you may know, is like French grappa: a distillation of what’s left over when all the fresh juice has been pressed out of grapes during the wine-making process.

This pomace brandy can sometimes be little more than rocket fuel: sharp, hot, with a resinous taste and texture on the tongue. The Italian version especially is frequently like that.

From the French – the Most Awesome Food Race on Earth – we expect more: more finesse, more food thought, more flavor cultivation. The French age their marc in oak barrels. This barrel aging makes a huge difference, taking off the edge, adding warm vanilla notes and conferring an inviting red-brown hue to the liquor.

I mentioned to Singh that I’d heard about a bartender in New York who makes Manhattans with a blend of bourbon and marc.

Singh enjoys coming up with new cocktails…and she especially likes coming up with slightly naughty names for cocktails. For example, on the menu now she has Grow Another Pear (with pisco and pear liquor) and GILF (a bourbon drink and, um, the G stands for Grandfathers)

When I told her about using the bourbon/marc combo in a Manhattan, she immediately said, “You could call it the Marky Marc Manhattan.” She didn’t have to specify what bourbon she was thinking of using: had to be Maker’s.

My contribution to this cocktail – which, who knows, may actually make it on the menu at Seven Lions – was the garnish: two cherries. Yes, I am very proud of this.

I made a Marky Mark Manhattan last Friday night, adding some orange bitters that I’d heard worked well in cocktails with marc. The liquor ratios are simply 1:1:1, Maker’s Mark, marc, Carpano Antica.



The marc is from Domaine de al Folie, aged twenty years, and coming in at close to one hundred bucks a bottle. Though not cheap, this was an excellent representative of French pomace brandy, the best of its type I’ve ever had.

I wanted to use a good vermouth, and Carpano Antica certainly is that, though I’d prefer to have used Adam Segar’s incredible Balsam, though that product won’t be on the market until later this month. I had a sneak sip of some at Rare Tea Cellar. Balsam is going to change people’s perceptions of vermouth: it’s a way of making vermouth on-demand from wine, which can be added fresh to this “spirit of vermouth.” This is a particular advantage as wine is the first element to go bad in a vermouth.

And though I usually prefer lemon twist to cherries, a pair of bright, unnaturally red Maraschinos just seemed right. The name of this drink conjures images of Mark Walhberg’s underpants billboards on New York busses in the late 80s.

Carolyn thought the Marky Marc Manhattan was a little too boozy and bitter for her. The booziness is unavoidable; I stirred this beverage for about 30 seconds, so it was not very diluted, which is the way I like it. The bitter quality may be due to the marc: it’s made, in part, from seeds and stems, two potentially bitter ingredients.

Though like many, I prefer my cocktails, like my wines, to be not-sweet, the classic Manhattan sometimes comes very close to sweetness, what with the sweet vermouth and perhaps cherries. The marc – like the bitters – moderates the sweetness while adding additional vegetal notes and flavor layers. I liked the Marky Marc Manhattan somewhat better than a Perfect Manhattan (with sweet and dry vermouth): it had more complexity, more depth, more funk.

The Marky Mark Manhattan. It’s a funky bunch… of flavors! Ho!!