fewbottles.com

Vermouth, stirred

Diplomat

Barline 2,1,q,clc

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

Stir with ice until cold, then strain.

Coupe, lemon twist, cherry.

Open in the menu

Taste

Two ounces of dry vermouth to one of sweet, so the dry wine is two thirds of the drink, then a quarter ounce of maraschino. No bitters, no base spirit. Cherry glue on two vermouths, dry leading. Stirred, coupe, lemon and cherry.

History

Robert Vermeire prints it as Diplomate in Cocktails: How to Mix Them (1922), "very well known in the French Diplomatic Service." Harry Craddock's 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book anglicizes the name: two-thirds French vermouth, one-third Italian, a dash of maraschino, shaken, cherry and lemon peel. Patrick Gavin Duffy's 1934 Official Mixer's Manual stirs the same formula. This menu keeps the two-to-one dry to sweet, pours a quarter ounce of maraschino rather than a dash, and skips the bitters later writers add. Coupe, lemon, cherry.

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.