Right Hand

Michael McIlroy made the Right Hand at Milk & Honey alongside Sam Ross’s Left Hand, swapping the bourbon for aged rum and keeping the Campari, sweet vermouth and mole bitters. The rum softens the drink and pulls the bitter edge toward caramel, which makes it read richer than the whiskey version without being sweeter. The two drinks are usually printed together in books, which is how a bar’s internal pair became a standard pairing on other people’s menus.

• It helped establish aged rum as a Manhattan-class base in modern bars.

• Left Hand (bourbon)
• Kingston Negroni (Jamaican rum, no bitters)
• Right Hand with cachaça

“McIlroy and Ross were working the same bar in the same year, which is why the pair is always discussed together.”