fewbottles.com

Vermouth, stirred

Bamboo

Barline 1h,1h,d,2,cOl

The code is the shorthand off my printed menu; the Key tab decodes every letter.

Stir with ice until cold, then strain.

Coupe, olive, lemon twist.

Open in the menu

Taste

Equal ounces and a half of dry sherry and dry vermouth, so there is no base spirit. One dash of Angostura, two of orange bitters. Stirred, coupe, olive and lemon twist. Nutty, dry wine, a little bark.

History

Louis Eppinger is credited with the Bamboo at the Grand Hotel in Yokohama, sometime in the 1890s: equal sherry and dry vermouth, bitters, a twist. It appears in American books by 1908. David Wondrich, in Imbibe, treats it as the low-proof cousin of the Martini, sherry in the gin slot. Equal ounces and a half go in, with one dash of Angostura and two of orange bitters, coupe, olive and lemon.

Same shape, other bottles

The Vermouth family, with the bottle that changed.

This is one drink on my home bar's menu. Tick the bottles you own and the menu lists which of all 185 drinks they pour.