Abbott's Bitters by Bob's Bitters

C.W. Abbott & Co. made Abbott's in Baltimore from 1865 until the mid-1950s, and it finished one early version of the Manhattan. No recipe survived. Bob Petrie spent five years rebuilding it by tasting an original bottle lent by Jake Burger, and it is the one bottle in his range that blends aromatics rather than committing to a single botanical.

Peppermint arrives first and stays bright, with sweet cinnamon and warm spice behind it and a soft vanilla close the oak puts there. Rounder and less medicinal than a classical aromatic, and sweeter on the finish than Angostura.