The Emerald drinks like the Manhattan's gentler cousin: Irish whiskey stirred down with sweet vermouth, lifted by a dash of orange bitters where the usual aromatic would sit. The lighter, softer grain of the whiskey gives a rounder, more mellow spirit-forward sip, and despite the gemstone name it pours a warm amber, with a twist of orange peel brightening the nose.
Garnish: Orange Peel
Stirred · Nick & Nora · Up
add
Combine Irish whiskey, sweet vermouth, and orange bitters in a mixing glass with cracked ice.
stir
Stir until well chilled and properly diluted.
strain
Strain into a chilled Nick & Nora glass.
garnish
Express an orange twist over the surface and drop it in.
No inventor or originating bar is recorded for the Emerald. It is one of those drinks that seems to have arisen wherever someone reached for Irish whiskey in place of rye in a Manhattan, much as the Rob Roy does with Scotch, and it is sometimes simply called the Irish Manhattan. Jacques Straub's 1914 book Drinks already lists it under this name, mixed in equal parts, and later editions of Mr. Boston's carry it as the Rory O'More. Today's bartenders have settled on a heavier pour of whiskey, two parts to one of vermouth.