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Dempsey

Name: Dempsey
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 45 ml Calvados apple brandy; 22.5 ml Gin; 5 ml Grenadine syrup; 1.25 ml Absinthe

Difford’s Guide

Discerning Drinkers (25)

Measurements in:

Serves:

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Ingredients
1 ¹⁄₂ fl oz	Calvados / apple brandy / straight applejack
³⁄₄ fl oz	Hayman's London Dry Gin
¹⁄₆ fl oz	Monin Grenadine Syrup
¹⁄₂₄ fl oz	La Fée Parisienne absinthe

How to make

Glass

Photographed in a Bespoke Nick & Nora

Prepare

Select and pre-chill a NICK & NORA GLASS.
Prepare garnish of skewered Luxardo Maraschino Cherry.

Method

STIR all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish

Garnish with skewered cherry.

Flavour Profile

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

Health & Nutrition

Nutrition:

One serving of Dempsey contains 180 calories

Alcohol content:

1.6 standard drinks
30.03% alc./vol. (60.06° proof)
22.2 grams of pure alcohol

History

Recipe adapted from Robert Vermeire's 1922 Cocktails How to Mix Them. The Dempsey also appears in Harry MacElhone's's Harry's ABC of Mixing Cocktails published the same year and is repeated in his 1923 Harry of Ciro's ABC Of Mixing Cocktails. Both MacElhone's books attribute this cocktail's creation to "Fred. Martin, Casino, Deaville, 1922" while Vermeire says "this drink was introduced at Deauville, 1921." Built in 1912, Casino Barrière de Deauville is an elegant palace of slot machines, crystal chandeliers and marble in Normandy, France.

Vermeire, and indeed the drink's name, reference a boxing match dubbed the "Fight of the Century", which saw Jack Dempsey (world heavyweight champion) knockout Georges Carpentier (world light-heavyweight champion) in the fourth round. The bout took place on 2nd July 1921 at Boyle's Thirty Acres in Jersey City, USA, and was the first boxing fight to produce $1,000,000 dollars in revenue.

Dempsey Cocktail
Fill the shaker half full of broken ice and add:
2 dashes of Absinthe
1 teaspoon of Grenadine
1/6 gill of Gin
2/6 gill of Calvados
Shake well and strain into cocktail-glass. This drink was introduced at Deauville, 1921, after Dempsey's victory over Carpenter.
Robert Vermeire, Cocktails How to Mix Them, 1922

Dempsey Cocktail.
⅔ Calvados, ⅓ Gin, 2 dashes Grenadine, 1 dash Anis del Osa.
(Recipe by Fred. Martin, Casino, Deauville, 1922.)
Harry MacElhone, Harry of Ciro's ABC Of Mixing Cocktails, 1923.

Review

Depending on your grenadine, this cocktail ranges from blush pink to barely coloured and the flavour will also vary. The colour is immaterial, but nail the balance, with absinthe tamed by grenadine but still assertive, and you've a delightful, spirituous aperitif or late-night sharpener.

Hayman's London Dry Gin 750ml - makes 33 cocktails
$33.99 $1.03 per cocktail Hayman's London Dry Gin image

Monin Grenadine Syrup (US) 750ml - makes 150.5 cocktails
$14.99 $0.10 per cocktail Monin Grenadine Syrup (US) image

La Fee Parisienne absinthe 200ml - makes 159.5 cocktails
$17.99 $0.11 per cocktail La Fee Parisienne absinthe image

$1.24 per cocktail*

Makes a minimum of 33 cocktails.
Shipping and applicable tax calculated at checkout.

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* May not include all ingredients. Price per cocktail is an estimate based on cost of one cocktail with ingredients shown above and does not include shipping.

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Comments & Discussion

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Chris Dimal 36w

It really is spirituous. My high quality grenadine is what saved it from being too much and pairs well with the Calvados.

Quentin Hickam Reed Premium Member 2y

Is this known to be a riff on the 75 or did they develop independently?

Beverly Stanton 4y

Very nice after dinner cocktail. Very spirt foward. Made as directed..not for the faint of heart.Will make again.

John Hinojos Premium Member 5y

Was looking for a spirit forward cocktail for the evening, and this was perfect. Did back off the grenadine by half, but followed the rest of the recipe. Great.

Simon Difford Verified User Premium Member 5y

Agreed. Grenadine needed cutting back. This led me to revisit this cocktail and the original recipe. Please see my revised spec above.

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