Achieving wild popularity in the 1880s, the Manhattan was among the first cocktails to use Italian Vermouth, appearing even before the Martini did. Like many stories involving whisky, the rest of its history is a bit cloudy. One widely circulated account claims the cocktail was invented at the Manhattan Club, a prestigious organization renowned for its stock of old whisky. The drink is alleged to have first been served at a party thrown there by Winston Churchill's mother, Lady Randolph Churchill, for presidential candidate Samuel J. Tilden. The hiccup with that, though, is Lady Randolph was likely pregnant and in Europe during the date in question. One thing is clear, the Manhattanite who first concocted this cocktail created a classic with true staying power.
