Tuxedo cocktail in a cocktail glass with a maraschino cherry and lemon twist

IBA

Tuxedo – IBA

Name: Tuxedo – IBA
Prep time: 3 min
Total time: 3 min
Yield: 1 serving
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: Old Tom gin — 30 ml (1 oz); Dry vermouth — 30 ml (1 oz); Maraschino liqueur — 3 ml (1/6 oz); Absinthe — 1 ml (1/6 oz); Orange bitters — 3 dashes

Stir ∙ 3 min ∙ 24.6% ABV ∙

The Tuxedo is a stirred martini-family cocktail of Old Tom gin, dry vermouth, maraschino liqueur, absinthe, and orange bitters.

Ingredients

Servings

Garnish

Instructions for 1 serving

Pre-chill a glass
Stir: Old Tom gin 30 mlDry vermouth 30 mlMaraschino liqueur 3 mlAbsinthe 1 mlOrange bitters 3 dashes
Strain into the chilled martini cocktail glass
Garnish with a maraschino cherry and a lemon twist

Tips

Add the orange bitters a dash at a time, up to the 3 dashes, tasting as you go; they season the gin and vermouth.
For a lighter anise note, rinse the glass with the absinthe instead of stirring in the 1 ml.

History

The IBA's Tuxedo codifies the historic Tuxedo Cocktail as a stirred mix of Old Tom gin, dry vermouth, maraschino liqueur, absinthe, and orange bitters. Those accents match the second of two Tuxedo recipes in Harry Craddock's The Savoy Cocktail Book (1930), the Tuxedo Cocktail No. 2 (Savoy recipe), which is the one that endured.

The Tuxedo Cocktail is generally dated to the late 1880s or 1890s at the Tuxedo Club in Tuxedo Park, New York, from which it takes its name. It was first documented in print in Harry Johnson's New and Improved Bartenders' Manual in 1900, and it went on to spawn numerous numbered and renamed variants.

FAQ

What is in a Tuxedo cocktail?

Old Tom gin (30 ml), dry vermouth (30 ml), maraschino liqueur (3 ml), absinthe (1 ml) and three dashes of orange bitters.

What are the IBA-specified ingredients for the Tuxedo cocktail?

Old Tom gin, dry vermouth, maraschino liqueur, absinthe and orange bitters, stirred and served up in a cocktail glass with a maraschino cherry and a lemon twist.