Name: Toronto
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 52.5 ml Canadian whisky; 7.5 ml Fernet liqueur; 7.5 ml Maple syrup; 1 dash Aromatic bitters; 10 ml Chilled water

Toronto
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Glass:

Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
1 ³⁄₄ oz	Canadian blended whisky
¹⁄₄ oz	Fernet Branca liqueur
¹⁄₄ oz	Maple syrup
1 dash	Angostura Aromatic Bitters
¹⁄₃ oz	Chilled water omit if using wet ice

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Prepare:

Select and pre-chill a COUPE GLASS.
Prepare garnish of orange zest twist and skewered Luxardo Maraschino Cherry.

How to make:

STIR all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish:

EXPRESS orange zest twist over cocktail and discard.
Garnish with skewered maraschino cherry.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

Originally with a dash of sugar syrup, but, thanks to a comment by Yacha Han on Difford's Guide, presented here with maple syrup as a more appropriate sweetener. Whether you use sugar or maple syrup, both tame and amplify the flavour of the whiskey, but maple syrup contributes so much more. However, it's Fernet that dominates this Manhattan-style cocktail.

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Variant:

Served on-the-rocks in an old-fashioned glass.

History:

A previously forgotten classic resurrected in 2006 by Jamie Boudreau in Seattle, Washington.

The Toronto appears in David A. Embury's 1948 The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks but its earliest written incarnation is as the "Fernet Cocktail" in Robert Vermeire's 1922 Cocktails - How to Mix Them.

Fernet Cocktail
Fill the bar glass half full of broken ice and add:
1 dash of Angostura Bitters
2 dashes of plain Sugar or Gum Syrup.
¼ gill of Fernet Branca.
¼ gill of Cognac Brandy, or Rye Whisky to taste.
Stir up well with a spoon, strain into a cocktail-glass, and squeeze lemon-peel on top.
This cocktail is much appreciated by the Canadians of Toronto.
Robert Vermeire, 1922

TORONTO
1 part Sugar syrup
2 parts Fernet-Branca
6 parts Canadian Whisky
1 dash Angostura to each drink (optional)
This cocktail may be made in Old-Fashioned glasses or may be stirred with large cubes of ice and strained into cocktail glasses. In either case, decorate with a twist of orange peel.
David Embury, 1948

In 2010, the Toronto was selected by Marian Beke as a classic cocktail he could adapt for the opening menu at London's Nightjar. At the bar's 15th anniversary party, on the 17th November 2025, co-founder Edmund Weil, as we both sipped on one, told me the cocktail was still the bar's best seller. Nightjar's Toronto comprises 50ml bourbon, 12.5ml Fernet Branca liqueur and 7.5ml maple syrup infused with roasted coffee beans and pecan nuts. It is famously garnished with orange blossom smoke and a candy floss cloud held aloft by a curvy bamboo cocktail skewer.

Nutrition:

One serving of Toronto contains 163 calories

Alcohol content:

1.4 standard drinks
24.35% alc./vol. (48.7° proof)
18.9 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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Neil Wilkins

26th April 2024 at 21:02

I have to say I really quite like the equal parts 1922 version. The minty bitterness of the Fernet really works with a high proof rye.

G. M. Genovese

11th January 2024 at 20:12

Jamie Boudreau's version was always best with me. Splits the base between overproof rye and bourbon. I made his recipe again today with demerara syrup and Branca Menta and it might be the best one I've had yet.

Lars Cianciolo

10th September 2023 at 23:14

Saw a recipe for a Cynar Toronto, and being a bitter man, I hoped that meant I replace the whiskey with Cynar. Of course, it meant replace the Fernet with Cynar, so instead I did what I intended and replaced the whiskey. 2oz Cynar, 1/4 each Fernet and simple with 2 dashes Angostura. Tastes like an Andes mint and is one of my new favorites.

fred rica

26th March 2023 at 00:25

Swap fernet with cynar, swap maple for simple - serve over a cube

Weston Smith

30th November 2022 at 18:31

A very whiskey-forward drink that is great for someone looking to sample the profile of different Canadian Whiskeys. For the true local Toronto experience, use Gooderham and Worts Canadian Whiskey, as their distillery in Toronto used to be the largest in the world and played a huge part in the city's history!

John Hinojos

26th February 2022 at 01:18

This would be great either as an aperitif or digestive. Really liked the mixing of the flavours. Did not have any Canadian, so we used a small batch, single vat rye. Worked perfectly.

Fernando Yu

22nd January 2022 at 08:11

Tried this template with Rittenhouse Rye and Rich Muscovado syrup.. It was good! Its a good cocktail to introduce Fernet Branca since it doesn't dominate the cocktail. Another nightcap cocktail for me.