The old pal is a cocktail consisting of equal parts

rye whiskey Rye whiskey can refer to two different, but related, types of whiskey: * American rye whiskey, which is similar to bourbon whiskey, but must be distilled from at least 51 percent rye grain * Canadian whisky, which is often referred to as (and of ...

("Canadian" whisky), French

vermouth Vermouth (, ) is an Italian aromatized wine, aromatized, fortified wine, flavored with various Botany, botanicals (roots, Bark (botany), barks, flowers, seeds, Herb, herbs, and Spice, spices) and sometimes Food coloring, colored. The modern ve ...

(dry), and

Campari Campari () is an Italian alcoholic liqueur, considered an aperitif, apéritif of the ''bitter'' variety (and not an amaro) by Italians while considered an apéritif of the Amaro (liqueur), amaro variety by Americans, obtained from the infusion of ...

History

The cocktail appeared in print in , by

Harry MacElhone Harry MacElhone (1890 – 1958) was an early 20th century bartender, famous for his bar in Paris, Harry's New York Bar; his influential cocktail book, ''Harry's ABC of Mixing Cocktails;'' and for inventing or first publishing numerous classic coc ...

, the proprietor of

Harry's New York Bar Harry's New York Bar is a bar in Paris, France located at 5, Rue Daunou, between the Avenue de l'Opéra and the Rue de la Paix. It was converted from a bistro by jockey Tod Sloan in 1911 and became a popular expatriate spot during World War I ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. The cocktail appears, not in the main list of recipes, but in the essay "Cocktails About Town" by Arthur Moss, which describes cocktails by men-about-town; this essay also includes the boulevardier. The Old Pal is credited to William "Sparrow" Robinson, a sports editor for '' The New York Herald'' in Paris, while the "old pal" refers to Moss, to whom it is dedicated. The cocktail is described as: :I remember way back in 1878, on the 30th of February to be exact, when the Writer was discussing this subject with my old pal "Sparrow" Robertson and he said to yours truly, "get away with that stuff, my old pal, here's the drink I invented when I fired the pistol the first time at the old Powderhall foot races and you can't go wrong if you put a bet down on 1/3 Canadian Club, 1/3 Eyetalian

talian Talian may refer to: Places * Talian, Iran, a village in Tehran province, Iran * Dhok Talian, a village in Punjab, Pakistan People * Jozef Talian (born 1985), Slovak footballer Other uses *Talian dialect Talian (, ), or Brazilian Venetian, or ...

Vermouth, and 1/3 Campari," and then he told the Writer that he would dedicate this cocktail to me and call it, My Old Pal. The reference to 1878 is clearly a joke, the name is given as ''My'' Old Pal, and the recipe featured Italian vermouth (sweet), rather than the now-standard French vermouth (dry), as well as Canadian Club specifically, rather than Canadian whisky (or rye whiskey) generally. French vermouth appears in , where the recipe is given as (no specification on the whiskey): :Old Pal ::Whisky 1/3 jigger, Fr.

rench The Rench is an eastern tributary of the Rhine in the Ortenau in Central Baden, Germany. It rises on the southern edge of the Northern Black Forest at Kniebis near Bad Griesbach im Schwarzwald. The source farthest from the mouth is that of ...

Vermouth 1/3 jigger, Campari 1/3 jigger ::Shake well with ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass and serve. The cocktail appeared in later editions of ''Harry's ABC of Mixing Cocktails'', such as the "New" edition (1952), where it is given with the modern recipe, as: :226. "Old Pal" Cocktail. ::1/3 Canadian Whisky, 1/3 French Vermouth, 1/3 Campari. ::(''Recipe by "Sparrow" Robertson, Sporting Editor of the New York Herald, Paris.'') The cocktail was popular enough to be included as one of the 50 cocktail in the inaugural 1961 list of IBA official cocktails, but was removed in the 1987 revision.

Similar drinks

This old pal is very similar to the boulevardier, which first appeared in the same essay by Arthur Moss in , but features Canadian (rye) whisky instead of bourbon, and now features dry (French) vermouth instead of sweet (Italian) vermouth, though originally both drinks featured Italian vermouth. Further, while both drinks were originally equal parts, and the IBA recipe for the old pal still is equal parts (1:1:1), the boulevardier often has more whiskey: 1½:1:1 (3:2:2) in the IBA recipe, and 2:1:1 is also common. It is similar to a

Negroni The negroni is a cocktail, made of equal parts gin, vermouth rosso (red, semi-sweet), and Campari, generally served on the rocks, and commonly garnished with an orange slice or orange peel. It is considered an apéritif. The drink has been doc ...

, but with rye whiskey instead of

gin Gin () is a distilled alcoholic drink flavoured with juniper berries and other botanical ingredients. Gin originated as a medicinal liquor made by monks and alchemists across Europe. The modern gin was modified in Flanders and the Netherlands ...

and dry vermouth instead of sweet.

References

Works cited

* * * {{refend Cocktails with Campari Cocktails with vermouth Cocktails with rye whisky