The Road Dog, a Cynar Twist on the Classic Manhattan Cocktail

The Road Dog cocktail is a few slight changes away from the ever popular Manhattan.

Exchange the sweet vermouth for Cynar, add a dash of absinthe, and use a grapefruit peel instead of the usual orange, and you have yourself what I have decided to call the Road Dog.

Lazy summer days can make for lazy cocktail creating as is have perfectly demonstrated here. By making simple substitutions, you can create tons of different cocktails that are uniquely different from the classic version.

So I began this experiment by using Cynar, which is an artichoke amaro.

The Cynar gives a manhattan type drink a more dark and bitter profile than one with sweet vermouth, and it sounded good to use grapefruit to cut through in place of the standard orange zest.

The grapefruit worked perfectly.

A few months ago I enjoyed a cocktail at Marble and Rye, a bar in downtown Buffalo, that used grapefruit oil to the same effect in a cocktail with whiskey and rubarbaro. Rubarbaro has many similar flavors to Cynar, so I tried to make some of the same flavors I remembered enjoying in that cocktail.

If you are ever in downtown Buffalo, be sure to stop in to Marble and Rye for a drink!

The ingredients for this twisted Manhattan

The short and sweet: use a nice spicy rye (I love Rittenhouse), and the classic version of Cynar (not the 70 proof one).

Other than that, this is just a straight up, nothing fancy, brown and boozy cocktail.

The absinthe has the same purpose as the grapefruit, cutting through the dark flavors of rye and Cynar, but if you don't have any, or don't like anise flavors feel free to skip it.

Absinthe is often a great way to help lift the flavors as a background note in drinks. When it plays a large roll it can be overpowering, but adding a few dashes can be a good way to fill in when a drink just needs a little extra something.

Mix it nice, and make a fancy peel garnish after expressing the oils over the drink if you have the time.