Brainstorm
A herbal and dry whiskey cocktail ∙ Stir ∙ 3 min ∙ 29.7% ABV ∙
The Brainstorm is a stirred Irish whiskey cocktail with a little Bénédictine and dry vermouth, served over ice in an old-fashioned glass.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Stir all ingredients with ice: Irish whiskey 60 mlBénédictine D.O.M. liqueur 10 mlDry vermouth 10 ml
- Strain into the ice-filled glass (preferably over a large cube or chunk of block ice)
- Express an orange twist over the cocktail and use as garnish
Tips
- Keep the Bénédictine and dry vermouth at 10 ml each; a heavier hand with either swamps the 60 ml of Irish whiskey.
History
The Brainstorm is first documented in Hugo R. Ensslin's Recipes for Mixed Drinks, published in 1916 and reissued in a second edition in 1917. Ensslin was a German-American bartender who tended bar at the Hotel Wallick in New York City, and his book recorded the drink as a dry, Irish-whiskey-based relative of the Manhattan and Rob Roy, built with Irish whiskey, Bénédictine, and dry vermouth. The recipe was later reprinted by Harry Craddock in The Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930 under the tidied-up single-word spelling "Brainstorm," which became the more common rendering of the name.
Over time bartenders substituted other whiskeys and vermouth styles and adjusted the original proportions, and a distinct straight-up rendition was later developed by bartender Al Sotack, who has served it since 2016 at Jupiter Disco, a cocktail bar in Brooklyn, New York.
