'Hold the fruit:' Tom Sawyer knew the secret to a Manhattan and had the card to prove it
When Tom Sawyer ordered a Manhattan, the longtime Akron politician knew precisely how he wanted it made.
Sawyer typed up a recipe card on the back of one of his Congressional business cards and laminated it.
He pulled out this card, titled “Tom Sawyer’s Famous Manhattan,” and handed it to the bartender no matter where his political career took him — to Washington, D.C., Columbus or Akron.
“It’s not like a fancy recipe,” Amanda Kraus, Sawyer’s daughter said with a laugh. “It’s just a Manhattan.”
Kraus, though, saw the recipe as the perfect way to pay tribute to her father after his recent passing. She used it to put together some Manhattans, and she and her friends toasted her father.
More: Longtime Akron politician Tom Sawyer dies after long illness
Sawyer, 77, died Saturday after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. His services will be in mid-July.
Kraus isn’t sure of the origins of the recipe card but thinks it dates back to the mid- to late- ‘90s. Her father was in Congress from 1986 to 2002.
Kraus said her father would often tell the bartender, "Hold the fruit," letting them know he didn't want any garnish with his drink.
Recipe card fits Sawyer, friends and colleagues say
Sawyer’s friends and colleagues weren’t surprised to hear that he had a recipe card for his favorite drink.
“That sounds like his preciseness,” said Pete Crossland, a former state representative who encouraged Sawyer to run for a Statehouse seat.
“That would not be unlike Tom,” agreed Ted Celeste, another former state representative who knew Sawyer for 60 years.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com, 330-996-3705 and on Twitter: @swarsmithabj.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Long-time Akron politician Tom Sawyer knew how to make a Manhattan
