The Metropolitan, a Brandy Manhattan, Deserves More Attention

At Madeira Park in Atlanta, bar manager Philip Weltner’s list of cocktails is built on the classics: a Negroni, a Manhattan, a Tuxedo. The through line is that almost every drink on the menu showcases fortified wine. Among this group is a lesser-known cocktail from the late 19th century called the Metropolitan.

The earliest known reference to the Metropolitan is from O.H. Byron’s Modern Bartenders’ Guide, which was published in New York in 1884 and is the same source that also gives us some of the earliest full recipes for the Manhattan. Byron’s Metropolitan calls for two parts French vermouth to one part brandy, with a few dashes each of gum syrup and Angostura bitters. A decade later, George Kappeler turned it into an equal-parts drink and added a lemon twist; he also introduced a variation called the Metropole that swaps out Angostura for Peychaud’s and the garnish to a cherry. Another 20 years brought Hugo Ensslin’s take on the Metropolitan, which featured Italian (i.e. “sweet”) vermouth rather than dry or blanc, giving it a closer family resemblance to brandy Manhattans like the Harvard. This is how it’s remembered today.