Equal parts London dry gin and sweet vermouth lay down a plush, spirit-forward base, and a small but assertive measure of Fernet-Branca runs a brooding, herbal-bitter backbone straight through it — a sweet Martini turned medicinal. Stirred cold and served up, it drinks dark and silky, with menthol and bitter root pushing back against the vermouth's sweetness while an expressed orange peel brightens the nose.
Garnish: Orange Peel
Stirred · Coupe · Up
add
Combine the gin, sweet vermouth, and Fernet-Branca in a mixing glass with ice.
stir
Stir well until thoroughly chilled and diluted.
strain
Strain into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass, served up.
express
Express an orange peel over the surface and drop it in or discard.
Ada "Coley" Coleman, who ran the Savoy's American Bar in London as its head bartender from 1903, mixed the drink for the actor Charles Hawtrey, who declared on tasting it that it was "the real hanky-panky." Coleman told the story in her own words to The People newspaper in 1925, the year she retired, some years after she had first made it. Harry Craddock printed the recipe in The Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930 with just two dashes of Fernet-Branca, a measure that modern specs have since filled out. It is still poured at the Savoy's American Bar and sits among the IBA's "Unforgettables."