The Delicious Difference at O'Brien & Brough

It was the third time I’d heard one of my dear friends refer to “The best Manhattan in Rhode Island” when I decided to take a drive to O’Brien & Brough, the distillery and bar in the Unity Park complex in Bristol, to taste this esteemed Manhattan myself. It was a blustery evening when I slipped down the alley through the double doors into the glow of the pine-paneled barroom, pleased as punch to find a literal row of Manhattans and OldFashioneds lining the bar, and two very busy barmen at work, stirring and shaking in a mesmerizing, nearly synchronized dance. A few minutes later, I had a cozy seat on the green velvet couch and the signature Cherrystone Rye Manhattan all to myself. On my first sip, the warming, spicy rye whiskey washed over my palate and gently whirled to a sweet and herbal finish, a hint of orange zest lingering on the tongue. I sat in awe, thinking, “Lucky me, this Manhattan really is that good.”

A few weeks later, I caught up with Adam O’Brien, who co-owns O’Brien & Brough (pronounced like rough) with his wife, Natalie (formerly Brough, now O’Brien), and he shared that the secret to his Manhattan was finding the ultimate balance between the rye whiskey and the botanicals he infuses into the vermouth and bitters. They serve so many Manhattans at the bar that Adam started making batches of freezer Manhattans by bottling and freezing the ingredients, adding filtered water to achieve the perfect chill and dilution for easy pouring during service.

Adam’s newest recipe, the White Oak Manhattan, incorporates roasted acorn-infused Amontillado sherry (dry Spanish fortified wine) in lieu of their house sweet vermouth to add a toasted, caramelized nuttiness to the mix. “I’ve been exploring ingredients that were used locally and not carried on into the modern era,” he says. “The Manhattan is considered the original ‘modern cocktail’ because of the addition of sweet vermouth, which goes way beyond the muddled sugar and bitters of the Old Fashioned (the original cocktail), with spirit, water, sugar and bitters of the 1880s.”

Says Adam, “Foraging fresh ingredients like acorns allows us to connect back to the land in a big way.”

He also turns to foraging for a creative garnish, replacing the traditional cherry with the very invasive but also very edible autumn olive. Adam and lead bartender Jared Dauphinais forage the autumn olive drupes (berries) in late summer to infuse into kirsch, a clear cherry brandy, to preserve the sweet pulpy berries well into the fall and winter—exactly when you’ll want to sip O’Brien & Brough’s exemplary Manhattan.

Willa Van Nostrand is an award-winning mixologist, beverage consultant and owner of Little Bitte Artisanal Cocktails and World’s Fair Gallery. Visit her at LittleBitte.com.