Bronx (cocktail)

History

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.

Joseph S. Sormani

Two sources credit Joseph S. Sormani as the person responsible for the drink.

The original recipe has been greatly distorted in the course of years, but here is the original to guide you and to compare with the other recipes being used: Four parts of gin, one part of orange juice and one part of Italian Vermouth. Shake thoroughly in ice and serve.}}

In Sormani's New York Times obituary, he was credited with creating the drink:

Johnnie Solan

According to Albert Stevens Crockett, historian of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, the inventor of the Bronx cocktail was Johnnie Solan (or Solon). Solon, a pre-Prohibition bartender at the Manhattan hotel, was "popular as one of the best mixers behind its bar counter for most of the latter's history." This is Crockett's account of Solon's own story of the Creation of the Bronx:

'Can't I?' I replied.

Well, I finished the Duplex I was making, and a thought came to me. I poured into a mixing glass the equivalent of two jiggers of Gordon Gin. Then I filled the jigger with orange juice, so that it made one-third of orange juice and two-thirds of Gin. Then into the mixture I put a dash each of Italian and French Vermouth, shaking the thing up. I didn't taste it myself, but I poured it into a cocktail glass and handed it to Traverson and said: 'You are a pretty good judge.' (He was.) 'See what you think of that.' Traverson tasted it. Then he swallowed it whole.

'By God!' he said, 'you've really got something new! That will make a big hit. Make me another and I will take it back to that customer in the dining room. Bet you'll sell a lot of them. Have you got plenty of oranges? If you haven't, you better stock up, because I'm going to sell a lot of those cocktails during lunch.'

The demand for Bronx cocktails started that day. Pretty soon we were using a whole case of oranges a day. And then several cases.

The name? No, it wasn't really named directly after the borough or the river so-called. I had been at the Bronx Zoo a day or two before, and I saw, of course, a lot of beasts I had never known. Customers used to tell me of the strange animals they saw after a lot of mixed drinks. So when Traverson said to me, as he started to take the drink in to the customer, 'What'll I tell him is the name of this drink?' I thought of those animals, and said: 'Oh, you can tell him it is a "Bronx".'}}

Solon would have created the cocktail sometime between 1899 (when he joined the establishment) and 1906 (when the word first appeared in print.) 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.'s first remembered drink

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. This was the beginning of his addiction to alcohol.

Other early citations

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. The Bronx Cocktail is mentioned in the 1934 film "The Thin Man" by Nick Charles (played by William Powell). In the film, Nick Charles states that the Bronx should be shaken to 2-step time.

Flavors

The Bronx is flavorful and mildly sweet "fruity" drink, without being uninteresting or sticky. Though possibly inspired by the Duplex, the two drinks are not really similar at all. 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."

References

References

1. Photograph by Romulo Yanes. "Queens Cocktail, Cocktail of the Week: 2000s Recipes + Menus". gourmet.com.
2. Burke, Harman Burney. ''Burke's complete Cocktail & Drinking Recipes'', 1934. Retrieved from [http://www.cocktailtimes.com/dictionary/1934.shtml cocktailtimes.com] on January 18, 2007.
3. Bredenbek, Magnus. ''What Shall We Drink?: Popular drinks, recipes and toasts / by Magnus Bredenbek''. p 13. New York: Carlyle House, c1934. [[Library of Congress Control Number. link. (October 23, 2007 on January 17, 2007.)
4. link. (October 23, 2007 on January 17, 2007.)
5. Regan, Gary and Regan, Mardee Haidin. ''[https://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/J2G2UEMLC2TU?tag2=zottmann1-20 So you'd like to... '''Enjoy a Bronx Cocktail''']'', February 4, 2002. Retrieved January 18, 2007.
6. Regan, Gary. ''San Francisco Chronicle''. [http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/06/12/WI256288.DTL A Bronx cheer from the Big Apple], June 12, 2003. Retrieved on January 17, 2007.
7. Crockett, Albert Stevens, (1873-). ''The Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book; with amendments due to repeal of the XVIIIth; giving the correct recipes for five hundred cocktails and mixed drinks''. p 41. New York, Dodd, Mead and company, 1934. [[Library of Congress Control Number. LCCN]] 34015101. Retrieved from [http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/bronx_cocktail/ The Big Apple] on January 17, 2007.
8. link. (October 25, 2007 on January 17, 2007.)
9. link. (October 25, 2007 on January 17, 2007.)
10. Kurtz, E., "Not God: A History of Alcoholics Anonymous", Hazelden, 1979.
11. Boothby, William "Cocktail". ''The World's Drinks and How to Mix Them'', 1908. Photographed at San Francisco Public Library Historical Materials Collection [https://www.flickr.com/photos/dinah/sets/72157603645295415/] on December 28, 2007.
12. [http://www.aibmproject.it/bronx-vintage-recipe/ Bronx Cocktail vintage Recipe]
13. The Home Bartender. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080523190535/http://www.bostoncocktails.com/2006-03-27-bronx-cocktail.html Bronx Cocktail], March 27, 2006. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080822015924/http://www.bostoncocktails.com/ Boston Cocktails] blog. Retrieved January 18, 2007.