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No, I’m talking about the original Manhattan. The daring, woodsier Manhattan of the 1800s —when New York City was only Manhattan and its eponymous cocktail was the boss of all drinks. Back then, bartenders left out the gloppy maraschino cherries — those didn’t arrive at our shores until 1900 or so — and made the drink exclusively with rye whiskey, bourbon’s sharper-tongued cousin. (For an analogy, think of the difference between rye bread and corn bread). In all likelihood, that rye whiskey came from upstate New York, because, as Ralph Erenzo points out, “There were 1,200 distilleries operating in New York before Prohibition.”