Frozen Manhattan Cocktail Recipe

The Manhattan may be one of the most classic vintage cocktails around, but our frozen update gives it a fresh, modern feel. Whether you look at it as a boozy dessert or the perfect cocktail to cool off with on a blistering day, it's a winner either way.

We will admit that getting this vintage cocktail just right took a bit of trial and error. Our first try, which involved adding ice to a typical Manhattan, left us with a frozen but overly diluted drink, which lacked sweetness and felt abrasive. With a penchant for non-alcoholic drinks that I explore on my blog, My Mocktail Forest, I knew that I needed to lower the alcohol by volume (ABV) in order for the drink to freeze properly. So I settled on a mixture of vermouth, rye, and cherry juice, and froze it in ice cube form. This variation turned out beautifully balanced, but once blended, it melted within a short few minutes.

With our next try, we really nailed it. Increasing the vermouth and cherry juice, as well as the bitters, helped balance the alcohol percentage and made the mixture easier to freeze. We ran it in an ice cream machine to chill it further, then waited with great impatience as it froze overnight. Laid out in a couple of coupe glasses, our frozen Manhattan cocktail glistened as it caught the light from the window, promising a frosted sensation that lasted long after the first bite. And the taste? Perfectly capturing the bitter-sweet balance of our favorite classic cocktail.

To make this frozen Manhattan cocktail, you'll need a sweet vermouth of your choice, cherry juice (though you can also use a pomegranate-cherry blend if you can't find strictly cherry), simple syrup, rye whiskey, Angostura bitters, amarena cherries, and a couple of orange twists for garnish.

Combine the vermouth, cherry juice, simple syrup, rye whiskey, and Angostura bitters in a bowl. Stir thoroughly to combine.

Transfer to the refrigerator and chill for at least 4-6 hours (ideally overnight). The colder the base, the better the texture.

Pour the chilled mixture into your ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer instructions (typically 15-20 minutes) until you reach a slushie consistency.

Return to the freezer and chill overnight.

Divide the slushie between two chilled coupe glasses.

Top each glass with three amarena cherries on a cocktail pick and one orange twist.

Serve with a spoon.

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When playing around with this Manhattan cocktail to give it a slushie texture, we decided to try adding some cherry juice to the mixture. Beyond introducing a fruity flavor that complements the vermouth and echoes the cherry garnish, the juice also serves a few critical technical purposes.

Because pure spirits freeze at much lower temperatures than water-based mixtures, getting a traditional Manhattan mixture to freeze at home is nearly impossible. Cherry juice increases the water content in the mix and lowers the ABV, thus aiding the mixture in freezing at a conventional home freezer temperature. Increasing the vermouth and Angostura bitters serves a similar purpose, while also keeping the flavor sharp and a bit more bitter against the sweetness of the juice.

We also found that adding the juice gave the drink a smoother texture and flavor when frozen. When compared to the mixture blended with ice, the juice-infused Manhattan was a lot fresher and stronger tasting. In the end, the juice helped give our frozen cocktail slushie an overall more well-rounded taste.

After experimentation, we realized that an ice cream machine would give our Manhattan slushie the best ice crystals and frozen-drink texture. However, because not everyone has an ice cream machine at home, we provide a few ways to make this cocktail without an ice cream machine.

Our favorite approach involves treating it like a granita. After thoroughly chilling your cocktail mixture overnight, pour it into a shallow baking sheet that fits in your freezer. Every 30 minutes, take out the tray and stir the mixture with a fork. This breaks up the forming ice crystals and gives it that signature texture. It replicates the churning action of a machine; it just takes a bit more elbow grease.

Another option is to freeze the mixture overnight, and then blitz it in a food processor very briefly to give it a broken consistency. You'll need to consume it faster, as the crystallization formed this way doesn't last as long, but it'll still taste great and have the texture we're looking for.

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