Deshler Cocktail

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (19 ratings)

Glass:

Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
1 12 fl oz Straight rye whiskey (100 proof /50% alc./vol.)
1 12 fl oz Dubonnet, Byrrh etc. rouge light quinquina
16 fl oz Cointreau L'Unique triple sec liqueur
2 dash Peychaud's or other Creole-style bitters
2 twist Orange peel
1 twist Lemon peel
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Prepare:

  1. Select a COUPE GLASS.
  2. Prepare garnish of orange zest twist.

How to make:

  1. REGAL SHAKE all ingredients (including orange and lemon zests).
  2. FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish:

  1. EXPRESS orange zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 9/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 7/10

Review:

A dry Manhattan-like cocktail with zesty citrus. Some will object to the scummy head caused by shaking rather than stirring but a Deshler must be shaken.

View readers' comments

History:

Cointreau.com (the brand's official website) says, "This is probably the first cocktail created in New York with Cointreau." It first appears in Hugo R. Ensslin's 1916-17 Recipes for Mixed Drinks and is named after the Deshler Hotel in Columbus, Ohio, one of three hotels owned by brothers Louis C. Wallick and Adrian L. Wallick. Ensslin worked at all three but spent most of his career in their The Wallick Hotel in Times Square where it is presumed he created this cocktail.

DESHLER COCKTAIL
½ jigger Rye Whiskey
½ jigger Dubonnet
2 dashes Peychaud Bitters
2 dashes Cointreau Triple Sec.
1 piece Lemon Peel
2 pieces Orange Peel
Shake well in a mixing glass with cracked ice, strain and serve with a twist of orange peel on top.

Hugo R. Ensslin, 1917


The above recipe proved so enduring that some 40 years later it appears little changed in Patrick Gavin Duffy's 1956 The Official Mixer's Manual:

Deshler
1 Jigger Rye whiskey
1 Jigger Dubonnet
2 Dashes Peychaud's Bitters
2 Dashes Cointreau
2 Twists Orange Peel
1 Twist Lemon Peel
Shake well with ice and strain into glass. Serve with a twist of lemon peel.

Patrick Gavin Duffy, 1956

Alcohol content:

We don't have enough information to calculate the alc./vol., but based on known ingredients, this recipe contains at least:

  • 24.8 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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14th June at 22:32
Having tried this two days ago, I wanted to do a back to back comparison using the PDT recipe: 1.5oz rye, only 1 oz Dubonnet, and more Cointreau .25 oz. And it is stirred, not shaken. I preferred this with less Dubonnet but it misses something by not being shaken as per the original recipe. And I don't just mean the "scummy head". Lost is some aroma, complexity, bitterness, and probably mouthfeel the Regal Shake purportedly can impart.
12th June at 23:28
I had to try this intrigued by the description of a "scummy head" and that is exactly what one gets using the recommended Regal Shake! As to the cocktail itself, very tasty, but I may try the PDT variation next time which uses only 30ml of Dubonnet and ups the Cointreau to 7.5 (and which is stirred rather than shaken). Elsewhere I have read that the cocktail was in fact named after the American boxer Dave Deshler (no relation to the hotel Deshler) who fought from 1903-1917. While I can't comment on the veracity of the naming, I'm inclined to believe the story provided above in Difford's description.
2nd May at 20:44
Pretty good in general (without being a 5* top drawer go-to), but I have to agree with the popular voice - stirred is better than shaken.
10th September 2022 at 12:10
Stirred and without peel this is a 'home on the range' which is a 5* beverage.
5th June 2022 at 20:52
This is infinitely better stirred rather than shaken! Rules schmools.