The Bronx is a

cocktail A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink. Most commonly, cocktails are either a combination of spirits, or one or more spirits mixed with other ingredients such as tonic water, fruit juice, flavored syrup, or cream. Cocktails vary widely acr ...

. It is essentially a Perfect Martini with orange juice added. It was ranked number three in "The World's 10 Most Famous Cocktails in 1934" behind the Martini (#1) and the

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

(#2).Burke, Harman Burney. ''Burke's complete Cocktail & Drinking Recipes'', 1934. Retrieved fro
cocktailtimes.com
on January 18, 2007. In the 1934 movie "

The Thin Man ''The Thin Man'' (1934) is a detective novel by Dashiell Hammett, originally published in a condensed version in the December 1933 issue of ''Redbook''. It appeared in book form the following month. A film series followed, featuring the main cha ...

", the lead actor (William Powell) compared the methods for shaking the Manhattan, the Bronx and the Martini.

History

As with several mixed drinks invented prior to

prohibition in the United States In the United States from 1920 to 1933, a nationwide constitutional law prohibited the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. The alcohol industry was curtailed by a succession of state legislatures, an ...

, 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. 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 Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, is a 47-story Art Deco landmark designed by architects Schult ...

, the inventor of the Bronx cocktail was Johnnie Solan (or Solon).Regan, Gary and Regan, Mardee Haidin.
So you'd like to... Enjoy a Bronx Cocktail
', February 4, 2002. Retrieved January 18, 2007.Regan, Gary. ''San Francisco Chronicle''
A Bronx cheer from the Big Apple
June 12, 2003. Retrieved on January 17, 2007. 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."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. LCCN 34015101. Retrieved fro
The Big Apple
on January 17, 2007. This is Crockett's account of Solon's own story of the Creation of the Bronx: Solon would have created the cocktail sometime between 1899 (when he joined the establishment) and 1906 (when the word first appeared in print.)Crockett. p 57. Retrieved fro
Listserv
on January 17, 2007. However, a prior reference to a "Bronx Cocktail" on a New York hotel menuNew York Historical Society 1895-14D, ''Grand Union Hotel New York Wine List''. Retrieved fro
Listserv
on January 17, 2007. indicates that either the name was already in use or Solon was not the original inventor.

Bill W.'s first remembered drink

Bill W William Griffith Wilson (November 26, 1895 – January 24, 1971), also known as Bill Wilson or Bill W., was the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). AA is an international mutual aid fellowship with about two million members worldwide b ...

., the founder of

Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship of alcoholics dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually-inclined Twelve Step program. Following its Twelve Traditions, AA is non-professi ...

, 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.Kurtz, E., "Not God: A History of Alcoholics Anonymous", Hazelden, 1979.

Other early citations

It appears in

William "Cocktail" Boothby William T. "Cocktail Bill" Boothby (November 10, 1862, San Francisco – August 4, 1930, San Francisco) was an American bartender and writer of San Francisco, California in the years before and after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. He tended ...

's 1908 book

The World's Drinks And How To Mix Them ''The World's Drinks And How To Mix Them'' is a cocktail manual by William "Cocktail" Boothby William T. "Cocktail Bill" Boothby (November 10, 1862, San Francisco – August 4, 1930, San Francisco) was an American bartender and writer of San ...

Boothby, William "Cocktail". ''The World's Drinks and How to Mix Them'', 1908. Photographed at San Francisco Public Library Historical Materials Collectio

on December 28, 2007. 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.Bronx Cocktail vintage Recipe
/ref> 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.The Home Bartender

March 27, 2006
Boston Cocktails
blog. Retrieved January 18, 2007. 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 " n is the base ingredient, orange juice is the mixer, and sweet and dry vermouths are added almost as an afterthought."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bronx (Cocktail) Cocktails with gin Cocktails with vermouth