Newark

The Newark is a deep, herbal, and slightly sweet aperitif-style cocktail built from apple brandy (often New Jersey’s own Laird’s), sweet vermouth, a quarter-ounce of maraschino’s cherry-nut sweetness, and a quarter-ounce of Fernet-Branca’s bold, mentholated bitterness. It drinks like a Manhattan’s cousin — rich and warming with layered herbal complexity and a nuanced balance between bitter, sweet, and fruit-driven notes. Its origin traces to Jim Meehan and John Deragon’s menu at PDT in New York, inspired by the Brooklyn cocktail but reimagined with apple brandy and Italian amaro.