The Black Manhattan is a Manhattan with Averna amaro replacing the sweet vermouth. Two ounces rye, one ounce Averna, a dash each of Angostura and orange bitters — that's the whole drink. Todd Smith created it at Bourbon & Branch in San Francisco around 2005, and it became one of the most influential single-substitution cocktails of the modern American bartending revival.
A Manhattan with the vermouth swapped out for Averna. One ingredient changes, and the whole drink turns.
Bourbon & Branch and the Amaro Era
Bourbon & Branch opened in San Francisco's Tenderloin in 2006 as a speakeasy-styled bar with a reservation-only entry — one of the early West Coast hubs of the American cocktail revival, a peer to Milk & Honey in New York. Smith was on the opening staff; the Black Manhattan dates to either late 2005 or the bar's opening months. The drink is widely documented in trade press from 2006 onward.
Averna is a Sicilian amaro — a bittersweet herbal liqueur — first produced in 1868. It is darker, more caramel-forward, and less drying than sweet vermouth, and it carries a low-grade bitter edge that reshapes a Manhattan into something quieter and more brooding. The substitution is one ingredient; the effect is total.
The Spec
Two ounces of 100-proof rye, one ounce of Averna, a dash of Angostura, a dash of orange bitters. Stirred for 30 seconds, strained into a chilled coupe (or over a large cube in a rocks glass for a longer drink). Brandied cherry as the garnish — Luxardo, ideally.
Why Averna Specifically
Other amari work — Ramazzotti is the most common substitute and is slightly drier, more medicinal. Cynar (artichoke-based) pulls the drink in a vegetal direction and is the basis of the Bitter Giuseppe, a different cocktail. Smith specified Averna; the drink as he designed it is built around Averna's particular caramel-bitter signature.
Rye, Not Bourbon
Rittenhouse Bonded (100-proof) is the modern bar standard. The Black Manhattan needs the rye's drier, spicier character to stand up to the Averna — a softer bourbon will read as too sweet, the cocktail will lose its spine. Wild Turkey 101 also works.
Both Bitters
Angostura plus orange bitters is the published spec. Orange bitters alone tilt the drink toward a Negroni adjacent; Angostura alone reads as a heavy classic Manhattan. The combination is what gives the drink its modern balance.
Bottom Line
If a Manhattan is the gateway drug to American whiskey cocktails, the Black Manhattan is what people who already love Manhattans graduate to. Cleaner than its parent, darker in tone, more shadowed in flavor — and arguably the cleanest single-ingredient substitution in the modern canon. Open the Averna; you'll find other uses for it the same week.