Bronx (cocktail)
A Martini with orange juice added.
The Bronx is a cocktail. It is essentially a Martini with orange juice added.
Quick Facts
- Ingredients
- 3 cl (6 parts) Gin / 1.5 cl (3 parts) Sweet Red Vermouth / 1 cl (2 parts) Dry Vermouth / 1.5 cl (3 parts) Orange juice
- Served
- Straight up: chilled, without ice
- Garnish
- orange twist
- Prep
- Pour into cocktail shaker all ingredients with ice cubes, shake well. Strain in chilled cocktail or martini glass.
- Drinkware
- Cocktail glass
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
As with several mixed drinks invented prior to prohibition in the United States, more than one story is attributed to the creation of this cocktail. Two sources credit Joseph S. Sormani as the person responsible for the drink. In Sormani's New York Times obituary, he was credited with creating the drink. According to Albert Stevens Crockett, historian of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, the inventor of the Bronx cocktail was Johnnie Solan (or Solon). Solon would have created the cocktail sometime between 1899 and 1906. However, a prior reference to a 'Bronx Cocktail' on a New York hotel menu indicates that either the name was already in use or Solon was not the original inventor. Bill W., the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, said that his first drink of alcohol that he could remember was the 'Bronx cocktail', given to him by a 'socialite' at a party during World War I.
Reader's Guide
It appears in William 'Cocktail' Boothby's 1908 book The World's Drinks And How To Mix Them as 'Bronx Cocktail, a la Billy Malloy, Pittsburgh, PA. One-third Plymouth gin, one-third French vermouth and one-third Italian vermouth, flavored with two dashes of Orange bitters, about a barspoonful of orange juice and a squeeze of orange peel. Serve very cold.' Harry Craddock in The Savoy cocktail book mentions three recipes from the Bronx. Cocktail columnists Gary Regan and Mardee Haidin Regan describe it as a drink where '[g]in is the base ingredient, orange juice is the mixer, and sweet and dry vermouths are added almost as an afterthought.'
Did You Know?
- The Bronx was ranked number three in 'The World's 10 Most Famous Cocktails in 1934' behind the Martini (#1) and the Manhattan (#2).
- In the 1934 movie 'The Thin Man', the lead actor (William Powell) compared the methods for shaking the Manhattan, the Bronx and the Martini.
- In the film, Nick Charles states that the Bronx should be shaken to 2-step time.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Bronx cocktail?
The Bronx is a classic pre-Prohibition drink that takes the Martini framework and layers in orange juice alongside gin and both sweet and dry vermouth. It is best understood as a citrus-bright, more approachable cousin of the traditional Martini.
What are the main ingredients in a Bronx cocktail?
A standard Bronx calls for gin, orange juice, sweet vermouth, and dry vermouth, typically shaken with ice. An earlier recipe attributed to Joseph Sormani used a much heavier gin proportion with only a single type of Italian vermouth and no dry vermouth.
Who invented the Bronx cocktail?
The true origin is disputed, but one popular story credits Bronx-area restaurateur Joseph Sormani, who allegedly encountered the drink in Philadelphia around 1905. No verified records of Sormani have surfaced, and the recipe appeared in print as early as 1906 in William Boothby's mixing manual, leaving the credit unresolved.
Why is the Bronx cocktail historically significant?
In 1934 the Bronx was named the number-one cocktail on a list of the world's ten most famous drinks, surpassing both the Martini and the Manhattan. That top ranking cemented its reputation as one of the most recognized vermouth-based cocktails of the early twentieth century.
Does the Bronx cocktail appear in film or other media?
Yes—the drink is featured in the 1934 detective film The Thin Man, where it is ordered in a bar scene. That cinematic appearance helped keep the recipe in public memory well into the mid-twentieth century.
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