Gin · Stir · Coupe · 4 min
Poet's Dream
A wet Martini softened with a little Bénédictine: dry, floral and lightly sweet. A pre-Prohibition drink that bartenders brought back.
What's in it
- 45ml (1½ oz) Gin
- 22.5ml (¾ oz) Dry vermouth
- 7.5ml (¼ oz) Bénédictine
- 2 dashes Orange bitters
- 1 Lemon twist optional
How to make it
- Chill a coupe.
- Stir the gin, dry vermouth, Bénédictine and orange bitters with ice in a mixing glass.
- Strain into the chilled coupe and express a lemon twist over the top.
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What cocktail can I make?Where it came from
Its roots are in the Ford Cocktail of the 1890s, which paired Old Tom gin with French vermouth and Bénédictine. A Poet's Dream of dry gin and French vermouth with dashes of Bénédictine and orange bitters appears in Jacques Straub's 1913 Manual of Mixed Drinks, while Albert Stevens Crockett's 1931 Old Waldorf Bar Days gives an equal-parts version. William Tarling's Café Royal Cocktail Book carried it in London in 1937. Who named it is not recorded.
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