Kangaroo

History

Bartending legend has it that "Kangaroo" was the original name for a Vodka Martini. It wasn't: the first known printed reference to a Vodka Martini predates that of what was originally called the "Kangaroo Kicker" in Oscar Haimo's 1943 Cocktail Digest by ten years.

KANGAROO KICKER COCKTAIL
2 oz. Vodka
¾ oz. French Vermouth
Shake
Twist of lemon peel on top.

Oscar Haimo, Cocktail Digest, 1943

Just a year later, in his Standard Cocktail Guide, Crosby Gaige shortens the name to the "Kangaroo Cocktail."

KANGAROO COCKTAIL
2 ounces Vodka
¾ ounce Dry Vermouth
Shake with cracked ice. Serve with a twist of Lemon Peel.

Crosby Gaige, Standard Cocktail Guide, 1944

Those who claim the Kangaroo is the original name for a Vodka Martini usually cite later editions of David A. Embury's The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks. However, the original 1948 edition omits this cocktail but does list a Vodka Martini. And even the Revised edition, alongside a Gin Martini recipe, states, with no reference to the Kangaroo 105 pages later, "Martinis are also sometimes made with some other liquor substituted for gin as a base - particularly a liquor of neutral flavor such as vodka or tequila." How "neutral" tequila is in flavour is arguable!

KANGAROO
3 to 4 parts Vodka
1 part French Vermouth
Stir. Twist of lemon on top.

David A. Embury, 1948

This cocktail is said to have been named in honour of the Australians who fought alongside the Allies against Hitler's Germany in World War II (1939 – 1945), and the fact that this cocktail appears to have emerged in the early 1940s would appear to support that.

Oscar Haimo doesn't credit a bartender with the recipe in his 1943 book, but at the time, he was head bartender at The Pierre Hotel in New York City, and it is likely the Kangaroo Kicker was his own creation.

Also see: Dry Martini history and evolution