Name: Six Cylinder
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 15 ml Navy strength gin; 15 ml Cherry brandy; 15 ml Red bitter liqueur; 15 ml Red quinquina e.g. Dubonnet, Byrrh; 15 ml Dry vermouth; 15 ml Rosso/sweet vermouth

Six Cylinder
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Glass:

Photographed in an Urban Bar Retro Optic Coupe 21cl

Ingredients:
¹⁄₂ fl oz	Hayman's Navy Strength Royal Dock Gin
¹⁄₂ fl oz	Cherry (brandy) liqueur
¹⁄₂ fl oz	Italian red bitter liqueur
¹⁄₂ fl oz	Dubonnet, Byrrh etc. rouge light quinquina chilled
¹⁄₂ fl oz	Strucchi Dry Vermouth chilled
¹⁄₂ fl oz	Strucchi Rosso Vermouth chilled

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Prepare:

Select and pre-chill a COUPE GLASS.
Prepare garnish of orange zest twist and skewered Luxardo Maraschino Cherry.

How to make:

STIR all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish:

EXPRESS orange zest twist over cocktail and discard.
Garnish with skewered cherry.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Dry vermouth, Rosso/rouge/sweet vermouth (di Torino) - Sulphur Dioxide/Sulphites

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

A bittersweet Negroni-like aperitivo or digestivo with pleasing, subtle, rich cherry notes. This cocktail runs so much better on high-octane Navy strength gin.

View readers' comments

Variations/similar cocktails:

Whiskey Six - based on bottled-in-bond strength rye whiskey.

History:

Created by Raymond Latour, this was the winner of the 1928 Paris Cocktail Championship [according to thrillist.com 7.Nov.2017]. Held at Hôtel Claridge on the Champs-Élysées, this "Inter-national Championship of Cocktails" was apparently sponsored by the Paris-Midi the Chicago Tribune newspapers [although I'm yet to find a reference to the competition or winner in either newspaper].

Comprising six ingredients in equal parts, the name Six Cylinder references the automotive boom of the 1920s, implying the smooth power delivery of a straight-six engine, first introduced in the 1903 Spyker 60-HP racing car. It appears in Harry McElhone's 1930 Harry's Of The New York Bar Paris (Late of Ciro's) ABC of Mixing Cocktails

Six Cylinder Cocktail.
1/6 Cherry Brandy, 1/6 Gin, 1/6 Campari, 1/6 Dubonnet, 1/6 French Vermouth, 1/6 Italian Vermouth.
Harry McElhone, Harry's Of The New York Bar Paris ABC of Mixing Cocktails, 1930

It also appears in name only in the supplementary lists of cocktails "which space forbids giving the recipes" in both the 1937 Café Royal Cocktail Book and UKBG's Approved Cocktails.

SIX CYLINDER
Cocktail Glass
Shake
1/2 oz gin
1/2 oz cherry flavoured brandy
1/2 oz Campari
1/2 oz Dubonnet
1/2 oz dry vermouth
1/2 oz sweet vermouth
Stanley M. Jones, Jones' Complete Barguide, 1977

Nutrition:

One serving of Six Cylinder contains 187 calories

Alcohol content:

1.3 standard drinks
20.31% alc./vol. (40.63° proof)
18.3 grams of pure alcohol

More After dinner/digestif cocktails
More Aperitivo/aperitif cocktails
More Bittersweet (e.g. Negroni) 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.

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Chris Garner

12th April at 21:50

Harry of Harry’s New York Bar in Pair wrote this in his book Harry’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails

Simon Difford

13th April at 08:28

Many thanks, Chris. I've added this, and all I can find on the history to what I already had. Hopefully, a French speaker will have more luck than me searching online archives of 1928 Parian newspapers.

1 reply

Calvin Grant

29th January at 03:45

Fabulous! Found the bitterness from the Campari, Byrrh, and the vermouths effectively balanced the cherry sweet center from Luxardo's Cherry Sangue Morlacco. And just enough gin. Wouldn't change a thing.♡

Chris Brislawn

26th April at 03:57

Agree that Byrrh works well in this and that the full complement of Campari is appropriate given the number of other sweet ingredients. A touch more gin if you don't have "Navy strength." I also agree on your assessment (below) of the Complex Tipperary.

1 reply

John CARR

10th March at 13:40

Revisiting this one Calvin, and very much agree. I may have ‘accidentally’ added some juice from the cherry jar, but then needed a splash more gin to dry it. The full Campari measure adds really nice bitterness to balance the glass.

1 reply

Mike Gibb

29th March 2025 at 16:01

I followed the suggestions btl to cut half the Campari with 10ml Aperol. The result included the Campari taste but without the bitterness. Cherry was to the fore, over a herbal Dubonnet base. I would do this again.

btw: I tried this after thoroughly enjoying the rather heftier Commedia all'Italiana (equal parts Campari & Aperol & rosso vermouth, with grappa and maraschino).

[Six Cylinder]

Caspian Berggren

26th January 2025 at 17:54

Wholeheartedly agree on splitting Campari and Aperol. If you do that you'll get an interesting bittersweet cocktail dominated by cherry.

John CARR

29th October 2024 at 13:42

Also good bumping up the gin to 30ml, which may overcome reservations re excessive sweetness/Campari-ness.

Chris Brislawn

26th April at 03:49

No "Navy strength" gin so I snuck the Tanqueray up to 3/4 oz (22.5 ml), which was enough. No reason to cut back on the Campari; the bitterness and "extra" ingredients makes this a serious, cherry fruit-forward Negroni variant. I used Byrrh, which worked quite well with the gin & Campari. Used Cocchi Extra Dry & Storico rosso, but I'm thinking a little more bitterness from Dopo Teatro instead of Storico might work well, too. There's more going on here than in a Negroni; I can see why it won a competition way back in 1928.

2 replies

John CARR

15th October 2024 at 12:52

Suped up Negroni meets cherry Martinez. On the sweet side for me so I’d def be reserving for dessert, maybe with a rich chocolate mousse. I ended up with eight cylinders due to low bottles of Campari and Dubonnet. I think deyan’s suggestion of splitting the Campari half with Aperol is a good one.
The cherry richness comes through beautifully.

Paul MATEJCEK

18th January 2024 at 23:34

Any thoughts about a sub for the Dubonnet? Punt e Mes? Noilly Prat? Pimm's #1? Maybe Aperol? ...or must I wait until I get my hands onto the real McCoy?