Waldorf No. 1

Difford's Guide
Discerning Drinkers (65 ratings)

Serve in a

Coupe glass

Read about cocktail measures and measuring.

How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
  2. Prepare garnish of orange zest twist.
  3. STIR all ingredients with ice.
  4. STRAIN into chilled glass.
  5. EXPRESS orange zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Allergens:


Recipe contains the following allergens:

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Strength & taste guide:


Review:

It may go against modern bartending etiquette, but this modern riff on the original equal parts Waldorf is best enjoyed shaken rather than stirred. The extra dilution and aeration benefits this Sazerac meets a Sweet Manhattan cocktail. Shake well, and the foam will last till it reaches the bottom of the glass.

History:

The eponymous cocktail from the Waldorf Hotel, which, until its demise in 1929, occupied the site on New York's Fifth Avenue where the Empire State Building now stands. The hotel was succeeded by the present Waldorf-Astoria New York Hotel, which occupies a landmark Art-Deco building at 301 Park Avenue built in 1931.

Consisting of equal parts rye whiskey, sweet vermouth and absinthe with 2 dashes of orange bitters, shaken and served frappé (over crushed ice), this cocktail first appeared in Jacques Straub's 1913 Manual of Mixed Drinks. It was repeated later in Albert Stevens Crockett's 1931 Old Waldorf-Bar Days .

The original recipe is tough for modern palates, but it's made more approachable by the addition of 2 spoons of sugar syrup:
15ml (½oz) Rye
15ml (½oz) Sweet vermouth
15ml (½oz) Absinthe
10ml (⅓oz) Sugar syrup (2 sugar : 1 water)
2 dashes Orange bitters
SHAKE all ingredients with ice and strain into a double old-fashioned glass filled with crushed ice.

WALDORF COCKTAIL
1/3 Jigger Rye Whiskey;
1/3 Jigger Italian Vermouth.
1/3 Jigger Absinthe.
2 Dashes Orange Bitters.
Shake.

Jacques Straub, Straub's Manual of Mixed Drinks, 1913

Nutrition:

One serving of Waldorf No. 1 contains 162 calories.

Alcohol content:

  • 1.7 standard drinks
  • 30.15% alc./vol. (60.3° proof)
  • 24.3 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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Bacardi's birthday image

Bacardi's birthday

The founder of Bacardi was a Catalan wine merchant called Facundo Bacardi Massó, who left Spain for Cuba in 1830.

Valentine's Day image

Valentine's Day

You can't have failed to notice that 14 February is St. Valentine's Day, a time of year when a sum equivalent to the GDP of a small country is spent on

Fernand Petiot's birthday image

Fernand Petiot's birthday

On this day in 1900, Fernand Pete Petiot was born in Paris, to parents who owned a guesthouse - he would come to fame, correctly or otherwise, as the inventor

Margarita Day image

Margarita Day

There are days for most things in the US, but Margarita Day is a subject very close to our hearts. Because, no matter who invented this classic cocktail,

World Bartender Day image

World Bartender Day

We're celebrating what the Oxford English dictionary defines as a person serving drinks at a bar, but we know as creative, hard-working folk who satisfy

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