Midnight Manhattan | Pendleton® Midnight

By Julia Ritz Toffoli

While Natalie was sipping on her Pendleton® Midnight across the country in Oregon, I was in New York, sipping on my own dram of Midnight, and thinking that I’d be remiss if I didn’t try it out in my all-time favorite cocktail to experiment with: a Manhattan.

After all, us east coast city girls need to have our own passions to keep us busy without any rodeos around!

In sipping the spirit, I got a lot of the same tasting notes as Natalie - vanilla, cake batter, a hint of baking spice - so I wanted to opt for a creative variation of a Manhattan that would highlight these tasty flavors. That said, a Manhattan isn’t the easiest drink to experiment with, since the three-ingredient list limits what you can do with it. With the whisky already decided (Pendleton® Midnight) and the vermouth determined by what I had on the bar (Dolin Rouge) the only variable I could play with was the choice of bitters.

My first personal foray into the transformative power of bitters (beyond the numerous concoctions served to me by talented bartenders) was actually with Natalie a few years ago. We were visiting the Museum of the American Cocktail (highly recommend!), inside the Southern Food & Beverage Museum in New Orleans, where I discovered Love Potion No. 9 bitters, an herbal, floral blend that I carried around in my purse for the rest of the vacation to gussy up my $4 happy hour vodka sodas.

Since then, I’ve been on a bitters kick, collecting all kinds of interesting flavors beyond your standard Angostura and Peychaud’s (both preferred for a classic Manhattan). Enter Fee Brothers Cardamom Bitters, the perfect complement to the baking spice notes in the Pendleton® Midnight. Topped off with an authentic Amarena Toschi black cherry, it was the perfect cocktail for this Manhattan girl.

Midnight Manhattan

• 2 oz of Pendleton® Midnight
• ¾ oz Dolin Rouge Vermouth
• 5-7 dashes of Fee Brothers Cardamom Bitters

Combine ingredients in a mixing glass over ice, and stir gently for a minute or so. Strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with a cherry or two.

Cocktail prep

Pendleton® Midnight | Review & Cocktails!

By Natalie Brant

As a fairly recent transplant to Oregon, I had previously only associated Pendleton with the much coveted blankets and jackets that I would always desperately look for in thrift stores. Imagine my delight when I found it is also a city, a rodeo and a portfolio of whiskies! A bit of background on the Pendleton® Whisky portfolio. It is the branded whisky named to honor the Pendleton Round-Up rodeo that takes place in Pendleton, Oregon the second week of September each year.

I recently sampled Pendleton® Midnight and shook up a couple of cocktails with it. Midnight is a 90 proof Canadian blend that includes a portion of whisky that is aged 6 years in American brandy barrels. This is a very accessible blend that is perfect for sippers who prefer their whisky on the sweeter side. The nose has strong hints of vanilla, and I caught a slight hint of cake batter before taking my first sip. The flavor is sweet and smooth on the front, no spiciness or heat to speak of. The brandy barrels definitely come through with slight fruitiness in the flavor. I was excited to try the Midnight in a couple of cocktails!

I decided to try a new-school and a classic cocktail to see how this whisky mixes.

The new-school cocktail I chose is the Pendleton® Tranquilizer, which was recommended by the brand and sounded delicious.

Pendleton® Tranquilizer

Pendleton® Tranquilizer

• 1 ½ oz. Pendleton® Midnight
• ¾ oz. ginger liqueur
• ¾ oz fresh lemon juice
• ½ oz. honey syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a highball. Garnish with a lemon slice

This cocktail was so refreshing! I want to sip this all summer long in the sunshine. It’s spicy and tart with a strong ginger bite on the front and a caramel sweetness on the back. I used local New Deal Ginger Liqueur for this cocktail as well, and it was perfection.

Next, I chose to make a classic Old Fashioned.

Midnight Old Fashioned

Midnight Old Fashioned

• 2 oz. Pendleton Midnight
• 2 to 3 dashes of Angostura Bitters
• 1 oz. Sweet Vermouth

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass. Garnish with a cherry and lemon.

The Midnight was very well balanced in the Old Fashioned. The subtle vanilla pops out in the drink and the sweetness worked well. This drink felt like it would be perfect as a nightcap, or even dessert.

Pendleton® Midnight is a solid choice for lovers of blended whisky, and I’ll bet brandy lovers would really enjoy experimenting with Midnight. Probably due to the rodeo history, I kept thinking this whisky would be lovely to sip next to a cowboy campfire with the flavor blending into wood smoke and saddle leather.

Pendleton® Midnight is widely available in the U.S.

This post is published in paid partnership with Pendleton® Midnight. All opinions are our own.