Garnish:
Lemon zest twist
How to make:
STIR all ingredients with ice and strain into chilled glass.
1 fl oz | Hayman's London Dry Gin |
1 fl oz | Dry full-bodied vermouth (e.g. Ambrato) |
1 fl oz | Rosso/rouge (sweet) vermouth |
4 dash | La Fée Parisienne absinthe |
Read about cocktail measures and measuring.

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.
Jacques Straub, 1914
Feather Cocktail.
1/3 jigger French vermouth.
1/3 jigger Italian vermouth.
1/3 jigger white absinthe.
Shake well.
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.
Harry McElhone, 1923
1/3 Gin, 1/3 French Vermouth, 1/3 Italian Vermouth, 4 dashes of Absinthe.
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
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