Name: Fourth Regiment
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 45 ml Rye whiskey 50% abv; 45 ml Rosso/sweet vermouth; 2 dash Creole bitters; 2 dash Orange bitters; 2 drop Celery bitters; 2 drop Saline solution 4:1

Fourth Regiment
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Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
1 ¹⁄₂ oz	Straight rye whiskey (100 proof /50% alc./vol.)
1 ¹⁄₂ oz	Strucchi Rosso Vermouth
2 dash	Peychaud's or other Creole-style bitters
2 dash	Orange Bitters by Angostura
2 drop	Fee Brothers Celery bitters
2 drop	Saline solution 4:1 (20g sea salt to 80g water)

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist.
STIR all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
EXPRESS lemon zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Rosso/rouge/sweet vermouth (di Torino) - Sulphur Dioxide/Sulphites
Celery bitters - Celery

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

My previous recipe for this vintage riff on a Manhattan followed the classic two-part whiskey (split 3:1 between bourbon and rye) to one-part vermouth Manhattan spec. However, one of the elements that distinguishes the Fourth Regiment is vintage recipes specifying equal parts. The most referenced, Jacques Straub (1914) and Charles H. Baker Jr. (1939), also call for a trio of bitters: orange, aromatic and celery, but the earliest known recipe (dated 1889) suggests the Fourth Regiment was originally made with Creole-style bitters in place of aromatic bitters.

I used to favour aromatic bitters with an orange zest twist in place of orange bitters, but since being influenced by Chris Lemperle of New York's Crane Club in January 2025, I have conformed to the original three bitters with a lemon zest twist as the resulting cocktail is delicious.

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Variant:

Matejcek 3-2-1 Manhattan

History:

Thanks to Robert Hess (see DrinkBoy.com), it's known that the Fourth Regiment dates back to the 1890s as it was published in an 1889 book titled 282 Mixed Drinks from the Private Records of a Bartender of the Olden Days. The recipe calls for whiskey, rosso vermouth, orange bitters, Peychaud's Bitters and celery bitters, with a lemon zest twist.

The Fourth Regiment then appears in Jacques Straub's 1914 book Drinks and Charles H. Baker, Jr.'s 1939 The Gentleman's Companion volume II – An Exotic Drinking Book.

Fourth Regiment Cocktail.
1 dash orange bitters.
1 dash Angostura bitters.
1 dash celery bitters.
½ jigger whiskey.
½ jigger Italian vermouth.
Piece of lemon peel. Shake
Jacques Straub, Drinks, 1914

THE FOURTH REGIMENT COCKTAIL, BROUGHT TO OUR AMAZED ATTENTION by ONE COMMANDER LIVESEY, in COMMAND of ONE of HIS MAJESTY'S DAPPER LITTLE SLOOPS of WAR, out in BOMBAY, A.D. 1931
This, we discovered finally, was merely a Manhattan Cocktail made in 4oz size, spiced with 1 dash each of celery, Angostura and orange bitters – but why the last was included we never have understood as the Angostura dominates. Chill very cold and garnish with a twist of green lime peel squeezed so as to deposit oil upon the waters after the drink is poured.
Charles H. Baker, 1939

More cocktails by Charles H Baker

Nutrition:

One serving of Fourth Regiment contains 169 calories

Alcohol content:

1.7 standard drinks
25.98% alc./vol. (25.98° proof)
23.7 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 Fourth Regiment.
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Simon Sedgley

8th February at 06:56

Another example of how the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. We use Cocchi Vermouth Amaro...it engages lovingly and assertively with the Rye.

Jeremy Harrold

6th February at 17:35

Very nice, as John Carr points out, the bitters make the drink. Here they boost the flavour profile instead of dominating it. I used Bitter Truth Bitters for all three thinking they would complement each other which seemed to be the case.

John CARR

12th July 2024 at 15:06

Stunning. The bitters are really the star of the show here. I went with Bitter Truth ones, having recently acquired their ‘Travellers’ set. Top stuff.

John CARR

12th July 2024 at 15:09

I’ll be interesting to venture the historical recipe exactly as described.

Bryn Maagaard

5th July 2024 at 17:20

Very dry! I tend to like cocktails on the drier side of things but this was almost overwhelming. The only celery bitter i had available was the atrocious bitter truth interpretation. Might try again with better celery bitters.

Simon Bradley

10th August 2022 at 22:49

Have to say this is the first cocktail I’ve used celery bitters in that I’ve liked. It has really drawn out the finish of the bourbon and rye whiskies. Excellent.

Martin Schwartz

8th February 2022 at 00:24

Very nice Manhattan variation. I'm going to use a wheated bourbon the next time to see the difference.

G. M. Genovese

31st January 2022 at 13:41

Just tried this with Old Grand-dad, Dad's Hat rye, and Antica Torino, all of which made for a rich base flavor. But the celery bitters - wow! - did they stand out, providing a stellar herbal accent. Wish I hadn't just run out of orange - not that something's missing - would've brightened up the edges here. (31 Jan 2022, 8:40a)

Anonymous

30th January 2022 at 00:43

A very Whisky flavoured drink. The bitters compliment the whisky, while the vermouth tames the whisky bite. Did not use the celery bitters, but orange peel worked very nice.

Jason Edward CLAPHAM

29th January 2022 at 00:49

The celery bitters are a nice touch, but I think they work better in Manhattans like the Cooper's Regard (with Cherry Heering); here they're having a fist-fight with the Angostura.

Paul MATEJCEK

29th January 2022 at 00:47

I made up a similar bent Manhattan 5 years ago, almost to the day. It's my '3-2-1 Manahattan.'

3 oz rye
2 oz sweet vermouth
1 oz dry vermouth

3 dashes orange bitter
2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
1 dash Angostura bitters

¾ oz cherry juice (optional)

Simon Difford

21st February 2022 at 11:00

Many thanks, Paul. I've created a Matejcek's 3-2-1 Manhattan page using your recipe. I've added a link to this above.

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