Last 20th of May we had the pleasure of directing a masterclass for the Girona’s School of Hostelry students. The masterclass was conducted by our barmans Manel Roldán and Sergi Sánchez and it consisted of teaching the students the elaborations of some classic cocktails as well as the history of such cocktails. We leave you here a selection of photos from the class and the history of the origins of the classic Manhattan cocktail.

The Manhattans cocktail Origins

The mother of Winston Churchill is credited with its invention in the New York City’s Manhattan Club, which was before the Empire State Building was actually build, the day celebrating the election of his friend, Samuel Jones Tilden, as governor of New York. Lady Randolph Churchill (Jennie Jerome) was born in Broooklyn and was a woman of remarkable beauty, with a very intense and hectic life: he married three times and had a significant influence on the political career of his son. He died after falling over a ladder because of some high heels that were quite unsuitable for walking.
In the book Valentine’s Manual of New York (1923), the bartender of New York’s Hofftman House mentions a man named “Black”, the supposedly owner of a gambling den on Broadway, as its inventor.
Another story, according to an article in a journal of Winconsin, puts its creation in 1899 on a ship that sailed the Mississippi River. Colonel Joe Walker, who was traveling with friends from New York, mixed whiskey and vermouth, which were the only drinks they had, and came to New Orleans, and once perfected the mix, he named it “Manhattan” in honor their friends.