There are two kinds of people in this world: 1) People who love the Manhattan, and 2) People who haven’t had enough Manhattans to realize they love that cocktail yet. Consider the dudes at Upslope Brewing to be planted firmly in the former category. They’re such big fans, they’ve whipped up a barrel-aged ale to pay homage to this classic cocktail. The Manhattan combines rye, bitters and sweet vermouth; You can check out Happy Hour History if you want all the details. In the meantime, let me tell you about this sweet, sweet beer.
The Manhattan-Style Ale is actually the second classic cocktail-inspired beer that we’ve reviewed recently, but don’t let the name fool you—the Manhattan-Style Ale is a very well designed barrel-aged beer first, and cocktail homage second. Make that a distant second. Upslope uses caramel rye malt, ale yeast and German hops for the base beer (and Upslope’s signature snowmelt), then ages the beer in first-use Leopold Brothers rye barrels. The result is intoxicating on a variety of different levels.