Garnish:
Skewered Luxardo Maraschino cherry
How to make:
STIR all ingredients with ice and strain into chilled glass.
1 2/3 fl oz | Straight rye whiskey (100 proof / 50% alc./vol.) |
5/6 fl oz | Rosso/rouge (sweet) vermouth |
1 dash | Orange Bitters by Angostura |
2 drop | Angostura Aromatic Bitters |
5/6 fl oz | Brut champagne or sparkling wine (chilled) |
Read about cocktail measures and measuring.

Review:
"A delectable Manhattan, with a champagne float."
History:
Named after The Honorable William T. "Cocktail Bill" Boothby (1862-1930), bartender, cocktail book author, prosecuted speakeasy operator, and California Congressman. Surprisingly, the Boothby Cocktail doesn't appear in any of the numerous books he penned during his lifetime, other than a verse in his 1908 The World's Drinks and How to Mix Them.
THE FIND OF BACCHUS
The World's Drinks and How to Mix Them, 1908
(From the modern mythology.)
Bacchus in a languid mood one day,
Cloyed with the purple essence of the vine,
Cried out, "I tire of all this sweetness and the wine;
If there be aught that's new, cup-bearer mine,
I pray thee serve it now without delay."
Whereat young Gannymede, there standing by,
Bowed to the one he served and laughed,
Saying, "Lo, I shall brew thee a draught,
The nectar of the gods, in sooth," and Bacchus quaffed
In haste, nor stopped he 'til the cup was dry.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Gone was his wanton languidness and pain,
No more he sat disconsolate and pale,
But cried, "Tis found! Oh wondrous tipple, hail!
Its name? Ah yes, I see: A Boothby Cocktail.
Oh! Gannymede, just set 'em up again!
When Boothby died of cancer on 4th August 1930, just three years before the repeal of Prohibition, close to 100 bartenders attended his funeral. (As the Santa Cruz Evening News reported on the 8th August 1930,) "One of these, T. E. Collins of Seattle, told yesterday at the Palace Hotel of Boothby's famous beverages.
"The younger generation," he said "should have known of the famous 'Boothby Cocktail,' invented by Bill when he was head bartender at this very hotel. It consisted of a delectable Manhattan, with a champagne float – a drink that never the gods of high Olympus quaffed."
Nutrition:
One serving of Boothby Cocktail contains 162 calories.
Alcohol content:
- 1.9 standard drinks
- 26.9% alc./vol. (53.8° proof)
- 27 grams of pure alcohol
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