Carmen and I had just left the Mandolin Orange show at DPAC and decided to stop in Nana Steak next door for an after show cocktail and avoid the traffic. Nana Steak has a nicely appointed and cozy bar off to the side of the restaurant. We saddled up to the bar and were greeted by our bartender in a tweed vest. I surveyed their whiskey collection before ordering and noticed a decent variety. The bar's back wall was several tiers high and had a rolling ladder for access to the upper levels. I saw numerous bottles of Old Overholt Rye, more than anything else. Never heard of it.
I asked our bartender to make me a really good Manhattan. Yes, I know. I didn't actually say the words "Make me your best Manhattan!" I decided to mix it up a bit. In retrospect, that was a bad idea.
He brought up a crystal beaker and filled it with ice, and also filled a cocktail glass with ice to chill it. Off to a good start. He then eyed proportions of Old Overholt and Turino sweet vermouth. He then grabbed 3 unmarked dashers of bitters and dashed 3 of each. Hmmm. What's in those bottles?
He mixed for all of 10 seconds and poured into the chilled glass, then garnished with a pre-made spear of drunken cherries. All in all, a nice display. I did notice that he had some left over, probably because he eyed the proportions instead of actually measuring...
The Manhattan was tasty and smooth, especially given its rye base. I didn't actually see what rye he used, or even if he actually used a rye, so I asked him what whiskey he used, using the term whiskey in the general sense, since he could have used either bourbon or rye as a base. He said "It isn't whiskey. It's a rye. Old Overholt." Ouch...
I wasn't too impressed with Old Overholt. There wasn't enough spice with it to counterbalance the heady sweetness of the vermouth. (I see that it sells for a little under $20 online.) Still, it was tasty. When I got to the cherries, I found them to be drunken maraschinos. Who does that?! At least he had the grace to drape the spear over the top of the glass instead of dropping them into the cocktail - that would have made it much too sweet.