Did you know that Bal­ti­more defied Pro­hi­bi­tion and still served alco­hol? It’s true, Bal­ti­more was a wet city dur­ing Pro­hi­bi­tion. When the rest of the nation went dry dur­ing Pro­hi­bi­tion, Mary­land was the only state that refused to pass an enforce­ment act to sup­port the fed­er­al restric­tions. Thanks to stub­born, free-think­ing Mary­land rule-break­ers, the Chesa­peake Bay became the prime port of call for the nation’s boot­leg­gers, mak­ing Mary­land the wettest state in the union. Ok enough with the his­to­ry lessons.

This Pro­hi­bi­tion era recipe is new to the cock­tail menu at Wet City in Bal­ti­more. The Dandy is a 50–50 Man­hat­tan-like recipe made with a red wine-based aper­i­tif instead of the usu­al sweet ver­mouth. Wet City’s ver­sion uses Coc­chi Dopo Teatro as the red wine-based aper­i­tif. Feel free to use what­ev­er red wine-based aper­i­tif is read­i­ly avail­able to you (e.g Lil­let Rouge, Dubon­net, etc.). They also use a house whiskey blend of rye and bour­bon. If you don’t want to try your hand at com­ing up with a blend that suits your palate I rec­om­mend using a high proof rye whiskey. The rest of the recipe is as follows…

Recipe

• 1 1/2 oz house whiskey blend
• 1 1/2 oz Coc­chi Dopo Teatro
• Cou­ple dash­es of Angos­tu­ra bitters
• A Pierre Fer­rand Dry Curaçao rinse
• Gar­nish with an orange twist

Add the whiskey and the Coc­chi Dopo Teatro to your mix­ing glass. Add ice and stir. Rinse your cock­tail glass with the Pierre Fer­rand Dry Curaçao. Express the orange oils from a peel into the cock­tail glass, and rub the rim of the cock­tail glass with the peel. Strain ingre­di­ents into your cock­tail glass. Gar­nish with an orange twist.