Name: Journalist
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 45 ml Gin; 15 ml Dry vermouth; 15 ml Rosso/sweet vermouth; 7.5 ml Orange Curaçao; 7.5 ml Lemon juice; 3.8 ml Sugar syrup (2:1); 1 dash Aromatic bitters; 3 drop Saline solution 4:1

Journalist
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Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
1 ¹⁄₂ oz	Hayman's London Dry Gin
¹⁄₂ oz	Strucchi Dry Vermouth
¹⁄₂ oz	Strucchi Rosso Vermouth
¹⁄₄ oz	Orange Curaçao liqueur
¹⁄₄ oz	Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₈ oz	Monin Pure Cane Syrup (65.0°brix, equivalent to 2:1 rich syrup) optional
1 dash	Angostura Aromatic Bitters
3 drop	Saline solution 4:1 (20g sea salt to 80g water)

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Prepare:

Select and pre-chill a COUPE GLASS.
Prepare garnish of Luxardo Maraschino Cherry.

How to make:

SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish:

Garnish with maraschino cherry.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Dry vermouth, Rosso/rouge/sweet vermouth (di Torino) - Sulphur Dioxide/Sulphites

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Cocktail of the day:

3rd May 2025 is World Press Freedom Day

Review:

Like some journalists I've met, this cocktail is classically bitter and sour. Hence, I balanced with an optional splash of sugar syrup, which I've increased from 25ml to 3.75ml. (Before selling on this recipe, I've also tried introducing bianco vermouth with three equal parts (10ml each) vermouths, and various proportions of old tom gin and dry gin.)

View readers' comments

AKA: Periodista (Journalist in Spanish)

History:

Adapted from the following recipe in Harry Craddock's 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book.

JOURNALIST COCKTAIL.
2 dashes Lemon Juice.
2 dashes Curaçao.
1 dash Angostura Bitters.
1/6 French Vermouth.
1/6 Italian Vermouth.
2/3 Gordon's Dry Gin.
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.
Harry Craddock, 1930

Nutrition:

One serving of Journalist contains 177 calories

Alcohol content:

1.4 standard drinks
20.92% alc./vol. (20.92° proof)
19.7 grams of pure alcohol

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Showing 10 of 12 comments for Journalist.
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Chris Brislawn

28th August at 03:55

Made this to spec, incl. the sugar syrup and saline drops, just to see what would happen. No Strucchi vermouth but Cocchi seemed phonetically close to Strucchi so made do with that (Storico and Extra Dry). I'm with S. Sedgley, unsure why this seems as bitter and sour as it does and not as sweet as it should based on the ingredients. I speculate that the more herbal/spicy/complex a drink becomes the less our taste buds are able to pigeon-hole it into a single classification of bitter/sour/sweet. Maybe the saline helps with this, too; I haven't seen an explanation for the role of saline in cocktails. At any rate, a successful and novel adaptation of an old recipe to modern tastes.

Simon Sedgley

25th August at 13:50

It's a bit of a mystery to us as to why this is as bitter and sour as it is. 'Cocktails' we suppose.

Doug Bain

18th August at 14:38

Sam was right again: this sour and bitter journalist benefit from just a touch of sweetness (tried it with and without).

Peter McCarthy

14th July 2024 at 19:27

I really liked this. Not your typical gin-based cocktail. I could taste the gin, herbs and spices, & subtle orange. Very aromatic when bringing the glass to your mouth.

Tuber Magnatum

3rd May 2024 at 22:25

Follow up: Drank this exactly one year ago on World Press Freedom Day and comment then was whether 2oz of gin as per Difford's 15th edition might be better. Notwithstanding the increased EtOH / standard drink amount, the 2oz gin for me gave a more balanced drink. I will revisit this next year and "report" again!

James Brooke

17th March 2024 at 14:05

The Journalist cocktail also appears in my copy of the Mr Boston Deluxe Official Bartenders Guide. Sixty-first edition. New and Revised.
It gives the recipe as:
1.5 teaspoons dry vermouth
1.5 teaspoons sweet vermouth
1.5 oz Old Mr Boston Dry Gin
0.5 teaspoon lemon juice
0.5 teaspoon Old Mr Boston Triple Sec
1 dash Bitters
Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.
In my opinion, the slight change in ratios makes this a more balanced and less bitter drink.

ellen lipton

3rd May 2024 at 20:32

This is also the proportions in the 60th edition; but the 20th goes with 1/4-1/4 sweet/dry; 1 1/2 gin; 1/2 tsp lemon-curaçao; 1 dash bitters. Wonder when between 1961 and 1979 the change happened?

2 replies

Morten Carlsbaek

5th December 2022 at 18:40

Fine cocktail but take care of dilution, when shaking with too small ice. I added 5 ml extra vermouth rosso and 2,5 ml extra triple sec, and it tasted fine - the watered down taste was gone.

Tuber Magnatum

21st November 2022 at 00:22

Personal preference, but I think the sugar syrup was a good addition. (I used gomme syrup just because that is what I had and am experimenting with it; I wonder if because of that 2oz of gin as per 15th edition of Difford's Guide might have been better.) Like Alasdair, I used Antica Formula as I have a bottle and have been looking for cocktails to highlight it. (Normally would have used Cocchi). Very nice drink! Brings back fond memories of my IBM Select typewriter which I used in Uni!

Alasdair MacDonald

20th November 2022 at 12:02

Meant to say, I used Antica formula; does that qualify as sweet Vermouth? and what actually constitutes a 'dash' of bitters? Lovely drink.

Simon Difford

21st November 2022 at 08:45

Antica Formula is a barrel-aged full-bodied sweet vermouth. For what constitutes a dash, please click 'measures and measuring' under the recipe above.