Automobile

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (4 ratings)

Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
1 oz Engine Gin
1 oz Blended Scotch whisky
1 oz Strucchi Rosso Vermouth
1 dash Orange Bitters by Angostura
1 dash La Fée Parisienne absinthe
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

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

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 8/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 6/10

Review:

Spirit-forward with gin and Scotch whisky lightly sweetened, softened and aromatised with vermouth.

View readers' comments

Variant:

Auto Martini

History:

The makers of Engine Gin discovered the Automobile Cocktail in Frank Meier's 1934 book, The Artistry of Mixing Drinks.
They make Meier's with an absinthe-like Ibiza liquor, saying, "An Automobile Cocktail, a glass of gasoline with a nut in it". So wrote the quirky promotional postcard of Automobile Cocktail, a close relative of Rob Roy. There are several version of it. We have taken the one contained of the Ritz in Paris. To the drink reported by Meier we have made a toe-in, rebalancing it and adding a typical Ibiza liquor which we also soaked our bolt with. At this point the car has become a convertible spider ready to take us along the coasts of Isla Bianca.

AUTOMOBILE
In mixing-glass: a dash of Orange Bitters, one-third each of Italian Vermouth, Gin & Scotch Whisky, stir well and serve.

Frank Meier, 1934

Nutrition:

One serving of Automobile contains 184 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.7 standard drinks
  • 25.81% alc./vol. (25.81° proof)
  • 23.4 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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John Hinojos’ Avatar John Hinojos
23rd March 2023 at 03:58
This was perfect as an evening sipper. Use a local San Diego gin (Old Harbor San Miguel) which is made with local herbs and heavy on sage, juniper, and some floral. Everything works perfectly. No element of the cocktail overpowers the other. Delightful.
Cocktailpixie   ’s Avatar Cocktailpixie
21st February 2023 at 12:55
Delicious. The sage-forward Engine gin plays very nicely with the other ingredients in this one. Thanks, Simon!