Name: Iron Horse
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 45 ml Cognac (brandy); 22.5 ml Ferro China; 22.5 ml Rosso/sweet vermouth; 2 dash Creole bitters

Ingredients

1 1/2 fl oz

Cognac (brandy)

3/4 fl oz

Ferro China Baliva

3/4 fl oz

Strucchi Rosso Vermouth

2 dash

Peychaud's or other Creole-style bitters

How to make

Glass

Prepare

Select and pre-chill a COUPE GLASS.

Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist.

Method

STIR all ingredients with ice.

STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish

EXPRESS lemon zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Flavour Profile

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

Health & Nutrition

Nutrition:

One serving of Iron Horse contains 189 calories

Alcohol content:

1.5 standard drinks
23.09% alc./vol. (46.18° proof)
21 grams of pure alcohol

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

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

History

Created in September 2025 by yours truly.

Iron House was a term widely used in the early 1800s for steam locomotives, understandable when comparing the new railways to the comparatively primitive horse-powered tramways of the time. In music, there are numerous tracks named Iron Horse, including the 1970s hit by the band Christie, a 1960s TV theme song by Dominic Frontiere, but most notably, the Motörhead song "Iron Horse / Born to Lose." In this cocktail, "Iron" refers to the iron ammonium citrate, which contributes to ferro china amaro's distinctive flavour.

Gallery

Comments & Discussion

Please log in to make a comment

J S 10 hours ago

This is such an interesting cocktail! Depending on where it falls on the tongue, a different taste prevails. No sip is the same... thank you for forging this one.

Joshua French 4 months ago

Surprisingly amazing cocktail! I wasn’t that enamoured with the ingredients list but everyone one of us at the cocktail party felt very energised by Iron Horse and had a great night. Delicious, full of iron, and well worth getting the special ingredients in!