Toronto

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.