Remember The Maine: A Bold Rye Whiskey Cocktail Named After A Battleship

The sometimes-curious names of cocktails are inspired by a multitude of subjects, but Remember the Maine is a true oddity: it's named after a battleship. With rye whiskey and sweet vermouth as the backbone, Remember the Maine can be thought of as a close relative of the Manhattan cocktail, one of the must-know classics in the modern cocktail repertoire. Remember the Maine builds on the spicy notes of rye and the herbal zing of sweet vermouth, but introduces two game-changing ingredients — absinthe and cherry liqueur — which add subtle layers of anise and fruit, respectively.

Remember the Maine got its name from a series of historical events. In 1898, during the Cuban revolt against Spain, the U.S.S. Maine inexplicably exploded in Havana Harbor. America blamed the Spanish, and although their involvement was inconclusive, this finger-pointing kindled the flame that led to the Spanish-American War. As a reminder of the ship's tragic sinking, the incendiary cry "Remember the Maine, to Hell with Spain" was born.

Flash forward to 1933, during the Cuban Revolution on the island nation. There, Charles H. Baker Jr., a globetrotting bon vivant and journalist, found himself at the Hotel Nacional, where he claims he discovered Remember the Maine. He recounts this in his compendium of drinks titled "The Gentleman's Companion," which contains the first written record of the cocktail.

The exact origin of Remember the Maine, like its parent the Manhattan, is hidden in the mists of history. However, the Manhattan's recipe dates back to the late 1880s. The majority of Manhattan recipes called for rye whiskey, a quintessentially American style that predated bourbon by decades. The reasoning here is all about balance. Rye's bold, spicy profile plays well with other cocktail ingredients, especially sweet ones. Conversely, bourbon possesses much sweeter notes, because its primary grain is corn. A sweeter whiskey, along with sweet vermouth, tends to produce a rather cloying combination.

It's possible that the Manhattan recipe in William Schmidt's book "The Flowing Bowl" — first published in 1892 — inspired Remember the Maine. Schmidt's version called for a dash (about an eighth of a teaspoon) of absinthe, an extremely potent spirit with a higher alcohol content than whiskey. While the absinthe in Remember the Maine is increased from a dash to a half teaspoon, it's still used sparingly. The absinthe is employed only to rinse the glass — a technique where the spirit is swirled around the interior of the cocktail glass and then poured out before adding the cocktail. Two teaspoons of cherry liqueur, rye whiskey, and vermouth are stirred vigorously with ice in a mixing glass and then strained into the absinthe-coated glass. The resulting drink is a moreish Manhattan, elevated by the muscular but still subtle kick of absinthe and tamed by the cherry liqueur's rich, juicy sweetness. With a combination like this, Remember the Maine isn't easy to forget.