Park Avenue

Difford's Guide
Discerning Drinkers (17 ratings)

Serve in a

Coupe glass

Garnish:

Skewered Luxardo Maraschino cherry

How to make:

SHAKE all ingredients with ice and fine strain into chilled glass.

1 2/3 fl oz Gin
3/4 fl oz Rosso/rouge (sweet) vermouth
3/4 fl oz Pineapple juice (freshly extracted/pressed/squeezed)
1/3 fl oz Orange Curaçao liqueur
4 drop Margarita Bitters (optional)
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Review:

Very fruity and well-balanced rather than dry or sweet.

The recipe previously on this page was in line with that in the 1977 Jones' Complete Barguide:
50ml (1 2/3oz) Dry gin
20ml (2/3oz) Pineapple juice
10ml (2/3oz) Orange Curaçao
10ml (1/3oz) Rosso (sweet) vermouth
But thanks to a comment by Clarence Castillo (see below), in February 2023 I adopted Ted Haigh's 2009 Park Avenue. Then, a month later, thanks to further encouragement from Clarence, I dropped the gin back a tad and added Daiquiri (roasted pineapple & mint bitters).

History:

A degree of mystery surrounds this vintage cocktail, partly due to its first known appearance in a recipe book, Dexter Mason's 1930 The Art of Living, being quite a different recipe to that recognised as a Park Avenue today.

THE PARK AVENUE
2 parts Champagne
1 part gin
1 part orange juice
A dash of cherry brandy
Shake rapidly with only one large piece of ice.

Dexter Mason, 1930

Unhelpfully, in his 1937 Café Royal Cocktail Book Coronation-Edition, W. J. Tarling lists the Park Royal in the "Supplementary List" of "the names of many Cocktails of which space forbids giving the recipes", so confirming a cocktail with this name existed in the 1930s but not what it comprised.

In his 2009 book Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails, Ted "Dr. Cocktail" Haigh includes a recipe for the Park Avenue from a 1934 cocktail menu from Hotel Astor, New York City.

INGREDIENTS:
2 ounces (1/2 gill, 6 cl) gin
¾ ounce (1/6 gill, 2 cl) pineapple juice
¾ ounce (1/6 gill, 2 cl) sweet vermouth
2 teaspoons (10 ml) orange curaçao
* Shake in an iced cocktail shaker, and strain into a cocktail glass.

Ted Haigh, 2009

The earliest cocktail book reference to a recipe broadly in line with that of the Hotel Astor I've found is in Stanley M. Jones' 1977 Jones' Complete Barguide.

PARK AVENUE
Cocktail glass
Shake
1-1/2 oz gin
1/2 oz pineapple juice
1/4 oz sweet vermouth
1/4 oz orange curacao

Stan Jones, 1977

Nutrition:

One serving of Park Avenue contains 185 calories.

Alcohol content:

  • 1.7 standard drinks
  • 22.18% alc./vol. (44.36° proof)
  • 23.3 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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Difford’s Guide to Cocktails Book 17th Edition image

Difford’s Guide to Cocktails Book 17th Edition

Perhaps the world's biggest cocktail book! Certainly, our biggest yet, 624 pages, 6cm (2.3inch) thick and weighing 2.25kg (5lb). Our Seventeenth Edition

Buy it here
Easy Jigger image

Easy Jigger

The Easy Jigger® is a measure designed for use when making cocktails, primarily in the home but also by professional bartenders. It has a unique design

Buy it here
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