Star Cocktail

An elegant apple brandy cocktail with sweet vermouth and bitters, essentially a Manhattan made with American applejack.

The Star Cocktail is a pre-Prohibition American classic — essentially a Manhattan built on apple brandy in place of whiskey. Its earliest documented recipe appears in George J. Kappeler's 1895 Modern American Drinks, which pairs apple brandy with Italian (sweet) vermouth, a few dashes of Peychaud's or Angostura bitters, and a small measure of gum syrup, finished with a lemon twist. A simpler "Star Cocktail (No. 2)" later appears in Harry Craddock's 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book as equal parts applejack (or Calvados) and sweet vermouth. Apple brandy is one of America's oldest domestic spirits — the Laird family of New Jersey has documented production from 1698 — and it was widely made across New England, the Mid-Atlantic, and the Upper South before bourbon achieved national dominance. Applying the stirred spirit-and-vermouth template to apple brandy produces a rounder, more orchard-fruit-forward relative of the Manhattan, the sweet vermouth's herbal sweetness echoing the apple brandy's stone-and-orchard-fruit warmth.