Fourth Degree

Difford's Guide
Discerning Drinkers (6 ratings)

Serve in a

Coupe glass

Garnish:

Lemon zest twist

How to make:

STIR all ingredients with ice and strain into chilled glass.

Read about cocktail measures and measuring.

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Review:

One of those cocktails where a 'bland' dry vermouth just won't do. Don't go big on the rosso but go for it on the dry vermouth. Dash your absinthe judiciously and you'll have a delicious variation on a Perfect Martini.

History:

The Fourth Degree Cocktail first appears as a blanche absinthe-based cocktail (without gin) in Jacques Straub's 1914 book Drinksalong with the attentive name, "Feather Cocktail".

Fourth Degree Cocktail.
Feather Cocktail.

1/3 jigger French vermouth.
1/3 jigger Italian vermouth.
1/3 jigger white absinthe.
Shake well.

Jacques Straub, 1914

It then appears in Harry McElhone's 1922 Harry's ABC of Mixing Cocktails with two versions: a gin-based cocktail with dashes of vermouth but no rosso (sweet) vermouth; and the Fourth Degree we recognise today. He repeats the cocktail a year later in his 1923 Harry of Ciro's ABC of Mixing Cocktails but with the first version omitted.

Fourth Degree Cocktail.
1/3 Gin, 1/3 French Vermouth, 1/3 Italian Vermouth, 4 dashes of Absinthe.

Harry McElhone, 1923

Nutrition:

One serving of Fourth Degree contains 179 calories.

Alcohol content:

  • 1.4 standard drinks
  • 21.46% alc./vol. (42.92° proof)
  • 19.6 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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Buy direct from
the_whisky_exchange store logo
£ -.--

Makes a minimum of ... cocktails
Just £ -.-- per cocktail*

* This list may not include all required ingredients.
Price per cocktail is an estimate based on the cost of making one cocktail with the available ingredients shown above and does not include any postage charges.
Buy direct from Difford’s Guide
Difford's Easy Jigger
£11.21 £11.21 exc VAT
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