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Forget Manhattans, Drink The Bronx
By
Jen Carlson
Published Feb 7, 2014
Modified Feb 7, 2014
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Feb 7, 2014
Modified Feb 7, 2014
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Put down your Manhattan—you can't handle more than one of those anyway—and pick up a Bronx. The classic cocktail comes to us from the early 1900s, and is basically a martini with a dash of orange. According to the internet, it was rated 3rd in the World's Most Famous Cocktails in 1934, just one spot below the Manhattan. Here's what you'll need:
The Bronx Cocktail
- 2 ounces gin
- 1/4 ounce sweet vermouth
- 1/4 ounce dry vermouth
- 1 ounce fresh orange juice
- Orange bitters to taste
- Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add orange twist for garnish.
According to his obituary in the NY Times, Joseph S. Sormani was credited with creating it... though he may have discovered it in Pennsylvania and brought it back to his Bronx restaurant, popularizing it. Another story has the Waldorf-Astoria's Johnnie Solon inventing it, and naming it after a visit to the Bronx Zoo—"The name? I had been at the Bronx Zoo a day or two before, and I saw, of course, a lot of beasts I had never known. Customers used to tell me of the strange animals they saw after a lot of mixed drinks. So when Traverson said to me, as he started to take the drink in to the customer, 'What'll I tell him is the name of this drink?' I thought of those animals, and said: 'Oh, you can tell him it is a "Bronx.'"
Also, they're great with breakfast... just ask former President Taft:
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alcohol
bronx
cocktail
the bronx
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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