Black Manhattan with Nocino
This Black Manhattan with Nocino features the bitterness of green walnuts, dark caramelized sugar, and baking spices of Nocino with rye (or bourbon), sweet vermouth, and walnut bitters. This Nocino Cocktail is quick and easy to make, and will totally up your cocktail “game.”
👩🏻🍳 Tamara Talks – What is Nocino?
Nocino is a traditional Italian dark walnut liqueur made by infusing unripe green walnuts in alcohol with sugar and spices (usually cinnamon, cloves, and sometimes citrus peel). My favorite is this Rustic Nocino from Eda Rhyne Distillery in Asheville, North Carolina.
The color of this amaro is deep, inky brown – almost black in the glass – and tastes as mysterious as it looks. It is layered on the nose with bitter walnut, warm cinnamon and clove, dark chocolate, espresso, and a hint of citrus peel. You may detect an earthy, forest-like quality underneath, like damp leaves and wood.
On the palate, its bitter walnut quality is beautifully balanced with baking spices and dark caramelized sugar. It is both bitter and comforting when sipped neat in a subtly medicinal sort of way. Sip it neat after dinner, or add it to this delightful black manhattan variant. With rye (or bourbon), a decent quality vermouth, and walnut bitters, this Nocino cocktail is an elegant cocktail fit for your holiday parties!
📋 Ingredients Notes
Here is a quick look at the ingredients in the recipe – it’s handy to use at the grocery store or as a summary of what you need. Skip to the recipe for quantities.
- whiskey – We tested both rye and bourbon. Both my husband and I liked the rye version best, but both are delicious. I would suggest trying it with whatever you have on hand.
- nocino – As I mentioned above, we love Eda Rhyne’s Rustic Nocino. However, there are many quality nocinos available.
- sweet vermouth – This Spruce Eats piece – The 8 Best Sweet Vermouths of 2025 – is a good place to start. Carpano Antica is my favorite sweet (red) vermouth, but it is expensive. We don’t have it for an “every day” manhattan. However, this black manhattan is a great way to use it. We love the Vya sweet vermouth, and it’s less expensive. For every day, the Dolin Vermouth Rouge is a solid choice.
- bitters – Black Walnut bitters are perfect, but they’re hard to find and a little expensive. Cinnamon or cardamom bitters would be a nice substitute… think warm spices! Angostura bitters will be lovely as well.
- garnishes – Add a twist of orange peel, a cinnamon stick, star anise, cherry, etc. as desired.
🔪 Step-By-Step Instructions
- In a mixing glass, add rye, nocino, sweet vermouth, and bitters.
- Add plenty of ice and stir (don’t shake) ~20–30 seconds until cold and properly diluted. NOTE: Stirring is important for the clarity of the cocktail, texture/smoothness, and the proper dilution.
- Strain into your preferred glass. Cheers!
❓FAQ
A Manhattan is all spirits (no juice, egg, or dairy). Shaking aerates the drink, introducing tons of tiny air bubbles. That makes the cocktail cloudy, frothy, and thinner – not what you want for a spirit-forward drink. Stirring keeps it smooth and velvety. Stirring chills and dilutes without reducing the clarity of the cocktail.
Obviously I chose a large rocks glass with a large ice cube. It’s really a matter of personal preference. More often than not, though, I will make it in a coupe glass. The experts do recommend a Nick and Nora glass or a coupe glass, but my family does manhattans in a rocks glass with a large ice cube. You do you!
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💡 Tips
Chilling your cocktail glass(es) is a nice way to elevate your cocktails.
‘Tis the season for good cheer, and what is cheerier than a new holiday cocktail? Take time to celebrate the season this year!
Black Manhattan with Nocino Recipe
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Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 ounces rye or bourbon
- ½ ounce nocino
- ½ ounce sweet vermouth
- several shakes black walnut bitters
Instructions
- Add 2 ounces rye or bourbon, ½ ounce nocino, ½ ounce sweet vermouth, and several shakes black walnut bitters to a cocktail mixing glass.
- Add a generous amount of ice, then stir vigorously for 20-30 seconds. Strain into a cocktail glass with or without ice cube. Garnish as desired.
Nutrition
NOTE: Macronutrients are an approximation only using unbranded ingredients and MyFitnessPal.com. Please do your own research with the products you’re using if you have a serious health issue or are following a specific diet.
I really enjoyed this cocktail. It’s a great introduction to using nocino. It’s also a good illustration of how versatile the “perfect manhattan” template (2 ounces whiskey, 1/2 ounce of sweet vermouth, 1/2 ounce of something else) can be.
It’s definitely a new favorite at Andersen casa!