Name: Cab Calloway
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 45 ml Cream sherry; 15 ml Rye whiskey 50% abv; 7.5 ml Apricot liqueur; 7.5 ml Dry vermouth; 2 dash Aromatic bitters; 2 dash Orange bitters

Cab Calloway
Jump to

Keep screen awake

Glass:

Photographed in a TarQ Rocks

Ingredients:
1 ¹⁄₂ fl oz	Lustau East India Solera Cream Sherry chilled
¹⁄₂ fl oz	Straight rye whiskey (100 proof /50% alc./vol.)
¹⁄₄ fl oz	Luxardo Apricot Albicocca Liqueur
¹⁄₄ fl oz	Strucchi Dry Vermouth
2 dash	Angostura Aromatic Bitters
2 dash	Orange Bitters by Angostura

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Prepare:

Select and pre-chill an OLD-FASHIONED GLASS.
Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist.

How to make:

STIR all ingredients with ice.
STRAIN into ice-filled glass (preferably over a large cube or chunk of block ice).

Garnish:

EXPRESS lemon zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Cream sherry, Dry vermouth - Sulphur Dioxide/Sulphites

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

A sherry-forward, rye whiskey-laced aperitivo with delicate apricot.

View readers' comments

History:

Adapted from a recipe created by bartender Tiffanie Barriere at One Flew South bar in Atlanta, USA. Tiffanie's original recipe calls for a sweet oloroso, but most oloroso sherries are dry with 1 to 4 grams of sugar per litre, hence my use of cream sherry.

Cab Calloway (1907 - 1994) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader and dancer who was known for his energetic scat singing, particularly in his performance of Minnie the Moocher. He was associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, known in cocktail circles thanks to Charlie Conolly's book The World Famous Cotton Club: 1939 Book of Mixed Drinks.

Nutrition:

One serving of Cab Calloway contains 128 calories

Alcohol content:

1.2 standard drinks
21.24% alc./vol. (42.48° proof)
16.2 grams of pure alcohol

More Aperitivo/aperitif cocktails
More Spirit-forward cocktails

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.

Join the discussion

Showing 3 comments for Cab Calloway.
See discussion in the Forum

Please log in to make a comment

Mike

8th November 2025 at 21:56

I researched this a bit and discovered the original recipe calls for *sweet* oloroso or PX sherry. My understanding is that in the EU, “sweet oloroso”
is known as “oloroso dulce”.

This would considerably change the flavor profile of the drink.

Simon Difford

18th May at 18:27

Many thanks, Mike. Sherry houses mostly produce Oloroso sherry now, which is dry, so I tried using a PX sherry, but it produced a tasty but overly sweet cocktail. Hence, rather than the Dry Oloroso I originally used, I have opted for a cream sherry, as it produces a balanced cocktail where the apricot notes can shine. I've also added a note to say that Tiffanie originally used a sweet oloroso.

Matthew Coffey

23rd February 2023 at 04:14

I wonder if the portions for this are correct? I found the drink as written to be dominated by the sherry. The apricot flavor appears briefly after about the third sip, but disappears quickly.

I remade it several times based on the proportions in Difford's Perfect Bamboo. I found the most integrated version to be
1.5 Oloroso sherry
0.5 over proof rye
0.5 apricot liqueur
0.25 bianco vermouth
0.25 dry vermouth
2 dashes Angostura bitters
2 dashes orange bitters

Toby James

14th October 2024 at 23:19

Thanking the both of you, this is a banger.

Simon Difford

23rd February 2023 at 19:55

Many thanks, Matthew. Just tried your recipe against the comparatively very dry original and preferred yours so I've adopted it above.

Clarence Castillo

9th February 2023 at 03:25

Interesting. Sometime when I have all the ingredients I'll have to try it and determine how well it captures the essence of Calloway's music and persona. But perhaps in honor of Calloway's home town of Rochester, NY, we should substitute the Rochester-based Fee Brothers' bitters.