 Welcome back to Drinks Made Easy because cocktails don't have to be difficult. Today we're taking a look at a really fantastic, simple, alcohol-forward cocktail, the Monte Carlo, invented in 1948 by David Embry. Now this is very similar to the Manhattan, the Improved Whisky cocktail, and really the old-fashioned in terms of just having a spirit, a sugar, a bitters, and a bit of water from ice. So if you enjoy cocktails that are flavored forward and aren't really mucking about, this is a cocktail for you. And this is usually when I would show you what this cocktail looks like, but Mike has developed a bit of an affinity for this one, so he keeps walking around drinking it like an absolute weirdo. And if that hasn't turned you off already, please go ahead and click on the subscribe button and the bell icon so you'll be notified every time we release a new video. Let's make a cocktail. To build the Monte Carlo, we'll start with two dashes of Angostura bitters. I didn't really get a dash on that first one. You also can go with only one dash of Angostura if you don't really like the play of a bit of cinnamon. Up to you. Next, we'll add two ounces of rye, half an ounce of Benedictine, and this is where we're getting the sweetness. If this were a Manhattan, we would be getting that from the Sweet Vermouth. If it was an Improved Whisky cocktail, that would then be the Maraschino Le Cure or with an old-fashioned sugar. Make sense? And next, we're going to add our large block of ice. Give it a quick stir, garnish with a peel of lemon, or you can optionally garnish it with a Maraschino Cherry. And there you have the Monte Carlo. Now you may see people sometimes stir it a lot with this idea of quote-unquote getting the cocktail down to temperature. I disagree with that. Now obviously it will start to chill, but it will also start to dilute it because you're creating friction by having all of that movement from the ice. This might also be coming from the technique of a Monte Carlo is quite often also served up because this is a Manhattan variation. So you can have it on the rocks or you can have it up, but especially when you have a large format cube, this alcohol and this drink is going to get cold pretty darn fast because you have a large block of ice. So you really don't need to work all that hard. It's delicious. A very simple cocktail with the aspects of the sweetness from the Benedictine, a bit of cinnamon from the bitters, and just a really good rye. If you really like cocktails that aren't overly complex but just kind of round out your favorite rye, this is a perfect cocktail for you. Cheers from Drinks Made Easy.