Vermouth, stirred
Tip Top
Barline 2,Q,2,cl
The code is the shorthand off my printed menu; the Key tab decodes every letter.
- 2 oz Dry vermouth
- 3/4 oz Bénédictine
- 2 dashes Orange bitters
Stir with ice until cold, then strain.
Coupe, lemon twist.
Taste
Two ounces of dry vermouth, three-quarters Benedictine, two dashes of orange bitters. That three-quarters of an ounce carries honey and spice. Orange bitters pull peel through the wine. Stirred, coupe, lemon twist.
History
Albert Stevens Crockett prints Tiptop in Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931): four dashes of Benedictine, two dashes of Angostura, one jigger of French vermouth, stirred, lemon peel. No bartender is named. Difford's later scales the Benedictine to three-quarters of an ounce. This menu keeps that pour and the lemon twist, and uses two dashes of orange bitters in place of Angostura.
Same shape, other bottles
The Vermouth family, with the bottle that changed.
- Duplexwith sweet vermouth
- Vermouth Panachéwith sweet vermouth
- Chrysanthemumwith absinthe
- Adonissherry and sweet vermouth for dry vermouth
- Bamboowith sherry
- Coronation No. 1maraschino liqueur for Bénédictine
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.