Name: Brooklyn
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 45 ml Rye whiskey 50% abv; 45 ml Dry vermouth; 10 ml Amer Picon; 10 ml Maraschino liqueur; 10 ml Chilled water

Brooklyn
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Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
1 ¹⁄₂ oz	Straight rye whiskey (100 proof /50% alc./vol.)
1 ¹⁄₂ oz	Strucchi Dry Vermouth
¹⁄₃ oz	Amer Picon
¹⁄₃ oz	Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
¹⁄₃ oz	Chilled water omit if using wet ice

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
Prepare garnish of skewered Luxardo Maraschino Cherry.
STIR all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
Garnish with skewered cherry.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Dry vermouth - Sulphur Dioxide/Sulphites

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

Perhaps my favourite of the many renditions of the Brooklyn cocktail due to being dry yet made approachable by faint sweet maraschino and bittersweet herbal complexity.

View readers' comments

Variant:

Brooklyn (Grohusko's original)
Brooklyn recipes and contemporary riffs named after Brooklyn neighbourhoods

History:

One of the Manhattan variations named after New York's five boroughs, the Brooklyn Cocktail was inspired by the already established and popular Manhattan and the Bronx.

The Brooklyn Cocktail (as we know it today) first appears in print in Jacob. A. Grohusko's 1908 Jack's Manual.

BROOKLYN COCKTAIL
1 dash Amer. Picon bitters
1 dash Maraschino
50% rye whiskey
50% Ballor Vermouth
Fill glass with ice.
Stir and strain. Serve.
Jacob. A. Grohusko, 1908

Jacob 'Jack' Grohusko lived in Hoboken, New Jersey, and was the head bartender at Baracca's Restaurant in Wall Street, lower Manhattan. His only tenuous link with Brooklyn was that the owner of Baracca's, Victor Baracca, was a Brooklynite. No matter, he put the borough on the cocktail map.

In 1913, in his Straub's Manual of Mixed Drinks, Jacques Straub included a version of the cocktail using French [dry] vermouth (rather than the Italian [sweet] vermouth used in Grohusko's recipe).

BROOKLYN COCKTAIL
1 Dash Amer Picon.
1 Dash Maraschino.
½ Jigger French Vermouth.
½ Jigger good Rye Whiskey.
Stir.
Jacques Straub, Straub's Manual of Mixed Drinks, 1913

You'll also find the Brooklyn in Harry Cradock's 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book made with 2/3 Canadian Club whisky and 1/3 French vermouth alongside dashes of Amer Picon and Maraschino. In his 1934 Official Mixer's Manual, Patrick Gavin Duffy also opts for the 2/3 rye whiskey to 1/3 French vermouth formula.

BROOKLYN COCKTAIL.
1 Dash Amer Picon.
1 Dash Maraschino.
⅔ Canadian Club Whisky.
⅓ French Vermouth.
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass
Harry Cradock, The Savoy Cocktail Book, 1930

BROOKLYN COCKTAIL
1 Dash Amer Picon
1 Dash Maraschino
⅔ Rye Whisky
⅓ French Vermouth
Stir well in ice and strain.
Patrick Gavin Duffy, Official Mixer's Manual, 1934

Nutrition:

One serving of Brooklyn contains 211 calories

Alcohol content:

2 standard drinks
23.59% alc./vol. (23.59° proof)
28.3 grams of pure alcohol

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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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Showing 10 of 12 comments for Brooklyn.
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Werd Bmocsil

14th June at 03:48

Hm.
Good? Well, yes, but perhaps the hype skewed my expectations. Much drier than I had hope. But then I didn't pay any attention to the strength & taste guide.

Werd Bmocsil

14th June at 04:49

I'll try again with the "Grohusko's" recipe.

Antoni Baltar

7th March at 19:05

Anyway, my Brooklyn's are and I'm afraid there will be, made with red vermouth. Since I was young, my favourite. my beloved one, it has been the Manhattan. But I love the Brooklyn too, as his close cousin. The genuine one, not the aberration, excuse me again, the misinterpretation with dry vermouth...

Antoni Baltar

7th March at 19:01

At that time, french vermouth was equal to white-dry, italian was equal to red-sweet. Maybe Vallor was white, I don't know, but it's certain it was SWEET. It was an IBA 50 official cocktail, and the reported ingredient was sweet vermouth. So, when you drink a Brooklyn made with dry vermouth, you are drinking an Old Pal without Campari, but not a Brooklyn. I would suggest, appeling to diplomacy , preparing a Brooklyn with French white sweet vermouth, the excellent Dollin Blanc for instance

Antoni Baltar

7th March at 18:52

Excuse me, I know there is an article for Brooklyn (Grohusko's original), but i do need to say it, and say it loud James Brown's style: The Brooklyn made with Dry Vermouth is an ABERRATION, excuse me, it's a MISTAKE, excuse me again, it's a MISINTERPRETATION. Tje original Grohusko's recipe ( thanks to gods his name remains) calls for VALLOR vermouth. French, yes, but RED SWEET too. I will go on in my next comment, too many characters...

Simon Difford

8th March at 09:11

I think we're in agreement. Jacob A. Grohusko’s 1908 “Jack’s Manual” calls for “50% Ballor Vermouth” (spelt with a ‘B’ not a ‘V’). Please follow the "Grohusko's recipe" link above for a Brooklyn made with sweet vermouth.

Jim G

20th January 2024 at 00:29

I think this one may have to grow on me. I've tried a few times and like it a little more each time. I am not a huge fan of dry vermouth and whiskey so maybe that's the problem. Used China-China as a sub for Amer Picon.

Danny Schneider

30th September 2023 at 01:16

Just subbed in about an 1/8 oz Fernet for the Amer Picon and it's quite tasty

John Hinojos

25th May 2023 at 00:38

Very good and very interesting cocktail. You can definitely taste the rye and the slight peppery rye flavours. When first made it was a bit sweet, but still very enjoyable. However, as it sat the sweetness softened and the herbal and bitter flavours came forward What a wonderful play of tastes as you consume the cocktail.

John Champion

14th February 2023 at 00:13

Torani Amer is a good sub for Picon if you live in the US. The makers claim it was directly inspired by the French aperitif. I've never tried Amer Picon, but I do know a Brooklyn made with Torani is pretty great.