Name: Ante
Total time: 2 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 50 ml Calvados apple brandy; 20 ml Rouge aromatised wine; 10 ml Triple sec; 1 dash Aromatic bitters

Ante
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Photographed in a Waterford Mixology Coupe Clear

Ingredients:
1 ²⁄₃ oz	Calvados / apple brandy / straight applejack
²⁄₃ oz	Dubonnet/French rouge aromatised wine
¹⁄₃ oz	Cointreau triple sec liqueur
1 dash	Angostura Aromatic Bitters

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
Prepare garnish of orange zest twist.
STIR all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
EXPRESS orange zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

Medium-dry, spiritous aromatised apple with delicate grape/berry fruit and faint orange.

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History:

The Ante notably features in Harry Craddock's 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book.

ANTE COCKTAIL.
1 Dash Angostura Bitters.
¼ Hercules.
¼ Cointreau.
½ Calvados or Apple Brandy.
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.
Harry Craddock, 1930

The Savoy recipe calls for Hercules, a sadly long since defunct product that vintage newspaper advertisements for the brand describe as being a "Maté-Wine Apéritif" with an "alcohol strength over 25°."

Our recipe (updated August 2020) reflects one I found back in 2006 on DrinkBoy.com which substitutes Dubonnet Red for Hercules.

More cocktails by Harry Craddock

Nutrition:

One serving of Ante contains 161 calories

Alcohol content:

1.5 standard drinks
26.57% alc./vol. (26.57° proof)
21.3 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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Showing 5 comments for Ante.
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John CARR

22nd February at 14:39

I felt like Byrrh worked quite a lot better than Dubonnet due to having More body, and assertive bitterness from the cinchona.

John CARR

25th June 2024 at 12:17

This one didn’t quite work for me… maybe heavy handed with the bitters? Or maybe picked the wrong mood…! Liked the dryness. I wonder what Hercules would be like..?

John CARR

26th June 2024 at 13:10

Retried with careful tasting at each step… def needs care with bitters this one. Delicate is definitely the word that springs to mind. Quite charming!

Dee Stump

9th April 2023 at 04:08

Well, I must say… part of the fun of all this is improvising when you need to. I hardly had the equipment to make this as is, but made it anyway. I used Laird’s 7 1/2 year apple brandy, Punt E Mes, and Thyme infused Cointreau (from Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s The Bar Book). It was fantastic and also a lovely use for the Thyme Cointreau that I always forget I have.

Geoff B.

22nd March 2021 at 05:01

As a Calvados lover, this was great. Instead of Dubonnet, I subbed Lillet Rouge. Both work great together. Cointreau was back a bit as well as the Angostura. Next time I’m upping the ante and using 2 dashes. Boozy and hint sweet this is a good one for a cold night...or any.

David M.

22nd March 2021 at 04:58

Substituted Lillet Rouge for Dubonnet. Nice autumnal flavors. Calvados-forward with great aromatics from the Rouge.
The Cointreau was hard to find in the flavor mix. But a nice drink overall.

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