Name: Blackthorn No. 4
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 45 ml Gin; 30 ml Rouge aromatised wine; 15 ml Kirschwasser; 1 dash Orange bitters

Blackthorn No. 4
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Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
1 ¹⁄₂ oz	Hayman's London Dry Gin
1 oz	Dubonnet/French rouge aromatised wine
¹⁄₂ oz	Kirschwasser (cherry) eau-de-vie
1 dash	Orange Bitters by Angostura

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist.
STIR all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
EXPRESS lemon 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:

This drink benefits from a long, chilling and diluting stir. The result is Martini in style, fruity yet dry.

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Variant:

There are numerous blackthorn recipes, but they fall into two camps: one based on Irish whisky with vermouth and absinthe and the other with gin/sloe gin and vermouth. The numbering of the various Blackthorn variations starts in the 1930 Swallows edition of Boothby's World's Drinks And How To Mix Them and continues in his posthumously published 1934 edition, where he adds the Blackthorn No. 5.
Blackthorn No. 1 - sloe gin, rosso vermouth, dry vermouth, aromatic bitters, orange bitters.
Blackthorn No. 2 - sloe gin, rosso vermouth, sugar syrup, lemon juice, aromatic bitters, orange bitters.
Blackthorn No. 3 (AKA Blackthorn Irish) - Irish whiskey, dry vermouth, absinthe, Bokers bitters.
Blackthorn No. 4 - gin, Dubonnet, kirshwasser, orange bitters.
Blackthorn No. 5 - gin, sloe gin, dry vermouth, lemon juice, sugar syrup, aromatic bitters.
Blackthorn (English) - gin, sloe gin, rosso vermouth, dry vermouth, orange bitters, aromatic bitters.

History:

This, one of the numerous versions of the Blackthorn cocktail, first appears in the 1930 Swallows edition of William "Cocktail Bill" Boothby's World Drinks and How To Prepare Them.

BLACKTHORN
Sloe Gin . . . . . . . . . ⅓
It. Vermouth . . . . . ⅓
Fr. Vermouth . . . . ⅓
Orange bitters . . . . 1 dash
bitters . . . . . . . . . . . 2 drops
Stir well with ice, strain into chilled glass, twist lemon peel over and serve.

BLACKTHORN, NO. 2
Sloe Gin . . . . . . . . . ⅓
Bitters . . . . . . . . . . . 2 drops
It. Vermouth . . . . . ⅓
Sweet-Sour . . . . . . 1 spoon
Orange bitters . . . . 2 dashes
Stir well with ice, strain into chilled glass and serve.

BLACKTHORN, NO. 3
Whiskey . . . . . . . . . ½ jigger
Fr. Vermouth . . . . . ½ jigger
Absinthe . . . . . . . . . 1 spoon
Bitters . . . . . . . . . . 3 drops
Stir well with ice, strain into chilled glass and serve.

BLACKTHORN, NO. 4
Gin . . . . . . . . . . . . . ½ jigger
Dubonnet . . . . . . . . ¼ jigger
Kirschwasser . . . . . ¼ jigger
Stir well with ice, strain into chilled glass and serve.
William Boothby, World Drinks and How To Prepare Them, 1930

Nutrition:

One serving of Blackthorn No. 4 contains 152 calories

Alcohol content:

1.7 standard drinks
25.74% alc./vol. (25.74° proof)
23.2 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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John CARR

18th December 2023 at 03:55

Would the usual Rosso vermouth work okay for dubonnet- to save a separate purchase?

Jason Edward CLAPHAM

6th October 2023 at 21:34

An underrated classic, called Blackthorn No. 4 in The World's Drinks And How To Mix Them (1934). I prefer with 30ml Dubonnet and a dash of Orange Bitters. Fantastic.

Simon Difford

7th October 2023 at 08:05

Many thanks, Jason. I've renamed this cocktail to follow Boothby's convention and will take a fresh look at proportions.

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