On a recent trip to Manchester, England to do a piece for Genre's Travel Issue I met up with Matt Fairhurst, Head Barman at the Harvey Nichols Manchester . Largely self-taught rather than a product of the U.K. mixology mill that can be a bit Draconian and arch, he delighted in making riffs on classics and in inventing purely original creations. An incredible boon to his creative impulses was the proximity of the Harvey Nicks' spirits section, which lay about twenty feet past the entrance to the restaurant. Matt has access to an impressive selection of specialty spirits and other ingredients there, and when he's working on marvelous new inventions all he has to do is pop round the other side of the place to grab, say, cherry bitters or Marsaca, the Croation cherry liquer. As with so many autodidacts I've met in the bar world, Matt's unfettered enthusiasm yields wondrous results-he hasn't been told what he can't do, and so believes he can do anything, concoction-
wise--and thus he can. Here are his notes on this drink on the left--his variation on a Manhattan, dubbed The Manchester:
"With respect to the Manhattan I made you
guys, it was in between sweet and perfect. Usually bartenders will make a
Manhattan - sweet, dry or perfect (as I'm sure you are aware). I've been playing
around a lot using different types and quantities of both bourbon/rye
and vermouth. This means you can be so specific and creates
a larger scale when making or ordering a Manhattan, which I think
customers a quickly catching on to. In addition to the vermouth I like to
add 5 ml of glace cherry syrup this adds; texture, flavour and gives
the drink a real shine, I think the first sip is with the eye. The
recipe was;
3 drops Angostura Bitters (quite good with aperol
bitters as well)
15 ml Antica Formula sweet
vermouth
10 ml Noilly Prat dry
50 ml Old Rip Van Winkle 10yr old
5 ml Glace cherry syrup
Garnish with a lemon twist- when making the
twist if you use a potato peeler rather than a knife, you just get the zest and
none of the white pith which will add a bitter flavour to the
drink, twist the lemon rind over the surface of the drink and rim the glass
before dropping it in."
Let me assure you, it is sublime. I'll have more of Matt's recipes here in the near future as he's contributed some of his inventions to my piece on Asian-influenced cocktails for the January issue of OUT. Below are some Harvey Nicks signature drinks, as well as another Fairhust orginal, The Gentleman Zombie.
Decadent Opulence
40ml Baileys
15 ml Cream
15 ml Blackberry puree
10ml Cacao
10ml Caramel
Titan Cosmo
35ml Orange vodka
40ml Strawberry puree
5ml Gomme
10ml Lemon juice
10ml Frais de bois
Blackberry Cascade
12.5 ml Chambord
12. 5ml Vanilla
3 Blackberries
Champagne float
GENTLEMAN ZOMBIE 
Matt's version of a zombie--lethal!!!!!!
20ml Havana Club
20ml Doorly's
20ml Appleton XN
15ml Gooslings
10ml Wray And Nephew Overproof 63% abv rum
35ml Lime juice
20ml Taylor's velvet falernum
Dash French absinthe
5ml Maraschino
10ml Apricot brandy
5ml Gomme
30ml Orange juice
50ml Pineapple juice
squeeze of fresh pink grapefruit
Do not drink more than two!
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