If you haven’t heard it from me yet, you’re destined to hear me say this repeatedly: Get over the notion that brown spirits are for winter and white spirits are for summer. Here’s an excellent example of how to make your favorite whiskey cocktail more summer friendly—or simply more of a ‘session’ drink if you’re planning to have more than one.

All of the classic Manhattan ingredients are in this drink: Bourbon whiskey (it would work well with rye whiskey as well), sweet vermouth, and aromatic bitters.

But wait, there’s more!

There are also Luxardo Maraschino liqueur and Heering cherry liqueur. And Peychaud’s bitters. Truthfully, you can get away with using just one of those cherry liqueurs if you have only one in the house, but if you have both you know that they have complimentary (not identical) flavor profiles.

What really lightens the cocktail, though, is that it’s a little more than 50 percent sake, which integrates well flavor-wise with the other ingredients and, at 15-18 percent alcohol depending on the sake you choose, lightens the net alcohol content of the drink. My choice for sake to mix in this and other cocktails is usually Tozai’s “Living Jewel”—a Junmai grade sake, which is a fine quality but still affordable and very pleasant to sip by itself. (I also enjoy it with seafood, sushi, and other light fare instead of white wine.) For my Rochester-area friends, Pinnacle Wine & Liquor almost always has it in stock, and I’ve seen it around town at other shops as well.

The recipe includes an above-average number of ingredients, I admit, and there’s a reason for that: sake is very mild in flavor, so cherry liqueurs and two styles of bitters are there to keep the flavor rich and more satisfying to people accustomed to strong Manhattans.

The flavor of this drink is 100 percent Manhattan, but sake gives you more for the pour. And get a load of that color!

SAKE MANHATTAN
1¾ oz Sake
¾ oz Bourbon whiskey of choice
¾ oz Sweet vermouth (e.g., Carpano Antica Formula)
1 tsp Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
1 tsp Heering Cherry Liqueur
1 dash Aromatic bitters
2 dashes Peychaud’s or similar Creole-style bitters

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with plenty of ice, stir for 20-25 seconds, and strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with a Luxardo Maraschino cherry (or two or three).