Metropole

Difford's Guide
Discerning Drinkers (58 ratings)

Serve in a

Nick & Nora glass

Read about cocktail measures and measuring.

How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill a Nick & Nora glass.
  2. Prepare garnish of orange zest twist expressed & discarded. Adorn with Skewered Luxardo Maraschino Cherry.
  3. STIR all ingredients with ice.
  4. FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Allergens:


Recipe contains the following allergens:

Strength & taste guide:


Review:

A Cognac Manhattan mellowed by a dash of sugar.

History:

The Metropole first appears in George J. Kappeler's 1895 Modern American Drinks and was the signature cocktail of the Hotel Metropole, located just off Times Square at Broadway and 42nd Street. It is a subtle adaptation of the 1884 Metropolitan Cocktail.

Metropole Cocktail.
Two dashes gum-syrup, two dashes Peyschaud bitters, one dash orange bitters, half a jigger brandy, half a jigger French vermouth, a mixing-glass half-full fine ice. Mix, strain into cocktail-glass, add maraschino cherry.

George J. Kappeler, Modern American Drinks, 1895

The Hotel Metropole opened on 27th April 1889 after proprietors Greene & Putney acquired the failed Rossmore Hotel and combined it with the neighbouring hotel at the corner of 42nd Street. This was the first hotel in New York City to have running water in every room but had a less than salubrious reputation due to the clientele its all-night, licensed street-level Café Metropole attracted.

As Albert Stevens Crockett says of this cocktail in his 1931 The Old Waldorf Bar Days, "Attributed to a once well-known and somewhat lively hotel, whose bar was a long centre of life after dark in the Times Square district."

The hotel was demolished in 1984, and the Times Square Tower now occupies the site.

Nutrition:

One serving of Metropole contains 127 calories.

Alcohol content:

  • 1.2 standard drinks
  • 23.31% alc./vol. (46.62° proof)
  • 17.1 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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