Tango
A citrus and sweet gin cocktail ∙ Shake ∙ 3 min ∙ 15.5% ABV ∙
The Tango is a shaken gin cocktail that blends both sweet and dry vermouth with fresh orange juice and a touch of orange curaçao.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Shake all ingredients with ice: London dry gin 30 mlRosso vermouth 15 mlDry vermouth 15 mlOrange juice 25 mlOrange curaçao liqueur 5 ml
- Fine strain into the chilled glass
- Express an orange twist over the cocktail and use as garnish
Tips
- Squeeze the orange juice fresh; bottled juice makes the drink taste dull and syrupy.
History
The Tango Cocktail is a gin-and-double-vermouth drink brightened with orange juice and a dash of curaçao. It was first printed in Harry MacElhone's 1923 book Harry of Ciro's ABC of Mixing Cocktails. MacElhone repeated the same recipe verbatim in his 1927 Barflies and Cocktails, which credited it to a bartender named Harry working at the Palermo bar on Rue Fontaine in Paris. It reached wider English-language circulation when Harry Craddock included it in The Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930, listing equal parts French and Italian vermouth with gin, orange juice, and curaçao.
The drink is essentially identical to the Satan's Whiskers, another gin-and-double-vermouth drink built around orange.
FAQ
What are the ingredients in a Tango?
London dry gin 30 ml, rosso and dry vermouth 15 ml each, fresh orange juice 25 ml and 5 ml of orange curaçao.
What is a Tango cocktail?
A gin drink from the 1920s, shaken with sweet and dry vermouth, fresh orange juice and a little orange curaçao, and served up in a coupe at about 15.5% ABV.
What flavor is a Tango?
Mostly orange and juniper. The two vermouths give it a wine-like, slightly bitter depth, the curaçao adds concentrated orange on top of the fresh juice, and the gin keeps it from tasting sweet.
