Bronx
Shake ∙ 3 min ∙ 16.5% ABV ∙
The Bronx is a shaken gin cocktail with sweet and dry vermouth and fresh orange juice, a fruitier relative of the Martini.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Shake all ingredients with ice: London dry gin 45 mlRosso vermouth 20 mlDry vermouth 15 mlOrange juice 30 mlOrange bitters 1 dash (opt.)
- Fine strain into the chilled glass
- Express an orange twist over the cocktail and use as garnish
Tips
- Shake hard for 12–15 seconds so the orange juice mixes in fully and picks up some air.
- Squeeze the orange fresh and strain out the pulp; thinner juice mixes more cleanly with the vermouths.
History
The Bronx is a pre-Prohibition American cocktail whose invention is credited to several different bartenders. The most widely repeated account, recorded by Waldorf-Astoria historian Albert Stevens Crockett in his 1935 book on the hotel's bar, credits bartender Johnnie Solon with creating the drink there, reportedly naming it after a recent visit to the Bronx Zoo, which had opened in 1899.
Other sources dispute this. A Minnesota newspaper from February 1901 already referred to a J. E. "Curly" O'Connor of the Waldorf-Astoria as the drink's inventor, predating Solon's own account. A 1934 cocktail book instead traced the drink to Philadelphia in 1905, crediting restaurateur Joseph Sormani with bringing it to prominence after encountering it there. Period bar guides from 1908 also gave differing recipes, including one credited to bartender Billy Malloy of Pittsburgh. By the mid-1910s the cocktail, essentially a Martini extended with orange juice, had become one of the most famous mixed drinks in America; a well-known 1934 ranking of the world's most popular cocktails placed it behind only the Martini and the Manhattan.
FAQ
What is in a Bronx cocktail?
London dry gin (45 ml), rosso (sweet) vermouth (20 ml), dry vermouth (15 ml) and fresh orange juice (30 ml), with an optional dash of orange bitters, shaken and served in a coupe with an orange twist. It is essentially a Martini extended with orange juice.
