Name: The Colonial Cooler
Total time: 2 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 45 ml Gin; 45 ml Rosso/sweet vermouth; 5 ml Grand Marnier; 5 ml Amer Picon; 1 dash Aromatic bitters; Top up with Soda (club soda) water

The Colonial Cooler
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Serve in a Collins glass

Ingredients:
1 ¹⁄₂ oz	Hayman's London Dry Gin
1 ¹⁄₂ oz	Strucchi Rosso Vermouth
¹⁄₆ oz	Grand Marnier or other cognac orange liqueur
¹⁄₆ oz	Amer Picon
1 dash	Angostura Aromatic Bitters
Top up with	Thomas Henry Soda Water

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Garnish: Mint sprig and pineapple wedge

How to make:

STIR first 5 ingredients with ice and strain into ice-filled glass. TOP with soda.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

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

Review:

Basically a Gin and It lengthened with soda and spiced with dashes of Amer Picon, Angostura bitters and orange curaçao.

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History:

This recipe is adapted from Charles H. Baker's 1939 The Gentlemen's Companion in which Baker explains that he encountered this drink in mid-1920s at the Sandakan Club, North Borneo, during an excursion from the SS Resolute, a round-the-world steamer.

The steamer anchored some 14 miles off shore and Baker and his companions set ashore in two lifeboats, both of which failed to make dry land due to engine trouble. A Borneo prahu "with a sail like a striped butterfly and a gent in a G-string and a headdress" raised the alarm and the adventurers were eventually towed ashore by a British North Borneo Company tug.

"We first went out to the Sandakan Club - there'd be a British Club on Mount Everest if 2 Britishers could stand the cold there! - and had these Coolers, through the courtesy of an American who was sentimental enough to fetch a mint root out with him.

"To 1 jigger of dry gin add the same of Italian vermouth. To this base donate 1 dash of each. Angostura and Amer Picon, and 1 tsp of orange Curaçao. Stir with a goodly lump of ice in a small highball or sour glass, and top off with a squirt of soda garnished with 2 sprigs of mint and a stick of ripe pineapple."

More cocktails by Charles H Baker

Nutrition:

One serving of The Colonial Cooler contains 198 calories

Alcohol content:

1.6 standard drinks
22.71% alc./vol. (22.71° proof)
22.8 grams of pure alcohol

More Classic/vintage 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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