Bamboo

The Bamboo is an early sherry-and-vermouth drink whose creation is credited by most sources to Louis Eppinger, a German-born bartender who ran a bar in San Francisco before managing the Grand Hotel in Yokohama, Japan, from 1890 until his death. William T. Boothby's 1908 book "The World's Drinks and How to Mix Them" lists the drink as originated and named by Eppinger in Yokohama, and this account is the most widely repeated. However, the earliest known written reference to a "Bamboo" drink appeared in 1886, three years before Eppinger arrived in Japan, in a newspaper item crediting an unnamed Englishman with introducing the drink to New York barrooms, so its true origin and namer remain uncertain despite Eppinger's central role in popularizing it. Early versions of the Bamboo called for roughly three parts sherry to one part vermouth, a ratio later loosened as the drink evolved toward equal parts sherry and dry vermouth with orange or Angostura bitters by the early 20th century. This 1904 recipe, recorded by bartender Stuart, reflects that earlier, sherry-heavy stage of the drink's development, built with fino sherry and sweet vermouth in a two-to-one ratio rather than the later equal-parts standard.