Remember the Maine
Remember the Maine is 60ml of rye, 22.5ml of sweet vermouth and 15ml of dark cherry liqueur, stirred over ice for 20 to 30 seconds and strained into a chilled coupe rinsed with 7.5ml of absinthe, with a cherry. Those are the IBA’s measures. About 3.1 UK units. Charles H. Baker Jr. recorded it in The Gentleman’s Companion in 1939, writing that he drank it in Havana in 1933, during the revolution. The name is the American rallying cry after the battleship USS Maine exploded in Havana harbour in 1898, an event that helped start the Spanish-American War. It is a Manhattan with the vermouth cut back to make room for dark cherry, and anise from the absinthe on the nose. The rinse is the delicate part: swirled round the glass and poured away, the absinthe scents the drink without taking it over.
Glassware: Coupe Glass
Garnish: Maraschino cherry
Ingredients
60ml
Around 40% ABV. Rye’s spice runs against the cherry rather than with it, which keeps a dark, fruity drink from tasting sweet. Bourbon works and makes a softer one.
22.5ml
A rich Italian style at about 16% ABV, cut back to make room for the cherry. Keep it in the fridge once open and use it within about four weeks.
15ml
A dark cherry liqueur at around 24% ABV; the IBA names Luxardo’s cherry brandy, and Cherry Heering is the other common choice. Clear maraschino is a different liqueur and makes a thinner, sharper drink.
7.5ml
For the rinse only: swirled round the chilled coupe and poured away. Absinthe runs from 45% to 74% ABV, so the same measure stirred into the drink would take it over.
Instructions
Chill a coupe in the freezer.
Pour the absinthe into the coupe, swirl until the inside is coated, and discard it.
Add the rye, sweet vermouth and cherry liqueur to a mixing glass with cubed ice.
Stir for 20 to 30 seconds, until the glass is very cold.
Strain into the rinsed coupe and drop in a cherry.
Source: the IBA (Official IBA specification; a cherry where the IBA gives lemon zest; method ours). Last checked 9 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Rinse the glass; do not stir the absinthe in. Swirl 7.5ml round a chilled coupe until the inside is coated, then pour it away. The anise should reach the nose first and fade, and the same measure stirred through turns the drink into a sweet Sazerac. Use a dark cherry liqueur at about 24% ABV, not clear maraschino. The drink wants stone-fruit depth; maraschino is drier and nuttier and leaves it thin. Stir for 20 to 30 seconds. At about 3.1 units it is a strong drink, and the dilution is what lets the cherry open up instead of sitting thick and sweet.
Behind the Remember the Maine
Flavour Profile
The Origin
The USS Maine exploded in Havana harbour in 1898. “Remember the Maine, to hell with Spain” became the slogan of the Spanish-American War that followed.
Charles H. Baker Jr. printed the cocktail in The Gentleman’s Companion in 1939, writing that he had drunk it in Havana in 1933, during the revolution of that year. The Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book of 1935 has a near twin called McKinley’s Delight, after the president of 1898.
A Manhattan With an Accent
The frame is a Manhattan: rye and sweet vermouth, stirred and served up. The vermouth is cut back to make room for the cherry, and the two read as one darker fruit.
The absinthe sits outside the drink, as a film on the glass. That puts it close to the Sazerac, another stirred rye drink served in an anise-rinsed glass.
The Cherry Liqueur
The IBA names Luxardo’s cherry brandy, and Cherry Heering is the other common choice: dark, sweet liqueurs at around 24% ABV that deepen the vermouth’s fruit.
Clear maraschino is made from marasca cherries with their stones and tastes drier and nuttier. It makes a sharper, thinner drink. At 15ml the cherry reads as depth; push it much further and the rye loses ground.
The Absinthe Rinse
Pour 7.5ml into a chilled coupe, tilt and turn it until the inside is coated, and pour the rest away. What stays behind is enough to scent the drink.
Stirred into the drink, the same 7.5ml would be the strongest thing in the glass and would bury the cherry. The rinse keeps the anise to the nose and the first sip.
The IBA Recipe and Ours
Remember the Maine: the IBA’s version and ours
Rye whiskey
- IBA
- 60ml
- Ours
- 60ml
Sweet vermouth
- IBA
- 22.5ml
- Ours
- 22.5ml
Cherry liqueur
- IBA
- 15ml Luxardo cherry brandy
- Ours
- 15ml dark cherry liqueur
Absinthe
- IBA
- 7.5ml, rinsed and discarded
- Ours
- 7.5ml, rinsed and discarded
Method
- IBA
- Stirred until chilled
- Ours
- Stirred 20 to 30 seconds
Glass
- IBA
- Coupe
- Ours
- Chilled coupe
Garnish
- IBA
- Lemon zest
- Ours
- A cherry
UK units
- IBA
- About 3.1
- Ours
- About 3.1
| Element | IBA | Ours |
|---|---|---|
| Rye whiskey | 60ml | 60ml |
| Sweet vermouth | 22.5ml | 22.5ml |
| Cherry liqueur | 15ml Luxardo cherry brandy | 15ml dark cherry liqueur |
| Absinthe | 7.5ml, rinsed and discarded | 7.5ml, rinsed and discarded |
| Method | Stirred until chilled | Stirred 20 to 30 seconds |
| Glass | Coupe | Chilled coupe |
| Garnish | Lemon zest | A cherry |
| UK units | About 3.1 | About 3.1 |
For the plain original, see the Manhattan; for rye in an anise-rinsed glass with Peychaud’s bitters, the Sazerac.
How to Serve It
Up, cold, in the rinsed coupe, with a cherry. It belongs to the same hours as a Manhattan, before dinner or after it.
Lemon zest, as the IBA gives it, is the brighter alternative: express it over the surface and the citrus sharpens the anise on the nose.
Make it at home
The Spirit
Whiskey (Rye)Rye whiskey, in American law, takes at least 51% of its grain from rye and its colour from new charred oak, and goes into bottle at a 40% ABV minimum; our recipes take 40% as the figure. Rye makes a drier, spicier, more peppery spirit than corn, which is why stirred classics such as the Manhattan, Vieux Carré and Brooklyn are written for it. It appears in 23 of our recipes.
Master the Techniques
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Remember the Maine refer to?
Cherry Heering or maraschino?
How is it different from a Manhattan?
Why rinse the glass with absinthe rather than stir it in?
Is Remember the Maine an IBA cocktail?
What is a McKinley’s Delight?
How strong is Remember the Maine?
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Manhattan
A Manhattan is 50ml of rye whiskey, 20ml of sweet vermouth and a dash of Angostura bitters, stirred over ice for 20 to 30 seconds and strained into a chilled coupe, with a cocktail cherry. Those are the IBA’s measures, five parts whiskey to two of vermouth. About 2.3 UK units. The most repeated origin story puts it at New York’s Manhattan Club in the 1870s, at a banquet given by Lady Randolph Churchill; she was in France at the time, so the story is unlikely. What is established is that the drink was in print by 1884, in guides by O.H. Byron and Charlie Paul. With so little in the glass, the vermouth decides it. Twenty millilitres is over a quarter of the drink, and a bottle opened months ago tastes flat and sour against the rye. Keep it in the fridge and replace it within about four weeks.
Sazerac
A Sazerac is 50ml of cognac stirred with a sugar cube and two dashes of Peychaud’s bitters, then strained, with no ice, into a chilled rocks glass rinsed with absinthe, and finished with lemon peel expressed over the top. The IBA lists those ingredients. About 2.1 UK units. New Orleans more often makes it with rye whiskey. The name comes from Sazerac-de-Forge et Fils, a cognac that Sewell Taylor imported to New Orleans from around 1850. Aaron Bird, who took over Taylor’s Merchants Exchange Coffee House, renamed it the Sazerac Coffee House and served a Sazerac Cocktail on that cognac, reportedly with Antoine Amédée Peychaud’s bitters. Under Thomas Handy, from around 1870, rye took the cognac’s place. The absinthe never goes into the mixing glass. It coats the glass and is poured away, leaving anise on the nose of every sip.
Vieux Carré
A Vieux Carré is 30ml each of rye whiskey, cognac and sweet vermouth, with 5ml of Bénédictine and two dashes of Peychaud’s bitters, stirred over ice for 20 to 30 seconds and strained over a large cube in a rocks glass, with lemon peel expressed over the top. About 3.1 UK units. Those are the IBA’s ingredients. The IBA serves it up, in a cocktail glass, finished with orange zest and a cherry; we keep the lemon peel of the recipe Stanley Clisby Arthur printed in 1937, in Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix ’Em, and serve it over ice. Arthur credited the drink to Walter Bergeron, a bartender at the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans. The date usually given is 1938, a year after Arthur’s book, so the year cannot be pinned down. Vieux carré means old square: the French Quarter, where the hotel stands.
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 12 October 2026