Red Hook

You’ll fall for this cocktail Red Hook, line, and sinker. 

The Red Hook cocktail is a crucial part of the New York City neighborhood cocktail collection. More specifically known as the, “Drinks named after neighborhoods in Brooklyn as a snarky clap-back to the Manhattan’s fame” collection. No matter how you refer to this grouping of cocktails, the collection includes: The Brooklyn, the Red Hook, and the Greenpoint. But none of these cocktails would be here if it weren’t for the Manhattan. 

First created in the 1880s, the Manhattan is one of the most popular and well-known whiskey cocktails in the world. It’s a chilled cocktail traditionally served up in a cocktail glass with either bourbon or rye whiskey, sweet vermouth, and bitters. It was an instant hit and just thirty years later inspired Brooklyn bartenders to create the Brooklyn – a rye riff with Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur, dry vermouth, and Amer Picon. 

Over a century later, the Red Hook was invented by Vincenzo Errico at the famous NYC bar, Milk & Honey. Despite the fact that Red Hook is a Brooklyn neighborhood, Milk & Honey was ironically located in Manhattan. However, this cocktail definitely has Brooklyn attitude, which works considering its a Brooklyn riff. The Red Hook stands by the Brooklyn’s choice of rye whiskey and maraschino liqueur, but then things get interesting. Instead of dry vermouth and Amer Picon (A French apéritif with a bitter, yet orangey flavor), Vincenzo Errico decided to kill two flavor birds with one stone and use Punt e Mes. 

Punt e Mes is an Italian vermouth and also considered to be the world’s first vermouth. The name itself means, “one point and a half,” referring to the one point of sweetness and half point of bitterness in the drink’s flavor. In other words, it balances the same flavors of the Brooklyn with a distinct palate all its own. 

The ingredients in a Red Hook may be just as difficult to source as the Brooklyn’s, but this neighborhood cocktail’s neighborly vibe is definitely worth the hunt.