Adonis
An Adonis is 45ml of fino sherry and 30ml of sweet vermouth with two dashes of orange bitters, stirred over ice for 20 to 30 seconds and strained into a chilled coupe, with orange peel expressed over the top. It contains no spirit at all, and comes to about 1.2 UK units. It takes its name from Adonis, a Broadway burlesque that opened in 1884 and became the first show there to pass 500 performances. The drink is said to have been made in New York to mark the run; nobody recorded which bar first mixed it. It is the sweet-vermouth sibling of the Bamboo, which takes dry vermouth. Our ratio leans towards the sherry, so the dry, saline fino keeps the vermouth from turning the drink sticky.
Glassware: Coupe Glass
Garnish: Orange peel expressed
Ingredients
45ml
Fino or manzanilla at around 15% ABV, served from the fridge and finished within a few days of opening. Its dry, saline edge stops the vermouth taking over. Amontillado, aged partly in contact with air, gives a darker result.
30ml
A rich sweet vermouth of about 16% ABV, kept cold once opened and used up inside a month. It brings the body and sweetness that separate the Adonis from the Bamboo.
2 dashes
Two dashes tie the nuttiness of the sherry to the fruit of the vermouth. Regans’ No. 6 is drier and spicier; Angostura Orange is brighter.
Instructions
Chill a coupe in the freezer, or fill it with ice and water.
Add the fino sherry, sweet vermouth and orange bitters to a mixing glass.
Fill with cubed ice and stir for 20 to 30 seconds.
Empty the coupe and strain the drink into it.
Express a strip of orange peel over the surface and rest it on the rim.
Expert Tip
Pour sherry opened no more than a few days ago and kept cold. A fino on the turn has nowhere to hide in a drink this light, and it turns quickly. If the drink tastes too soft, take the vermouth down to 25ml before changing anything else. A small move towards the sherry brings the dryness back without changing the drink. Express orange peel, not lemon. Orange suits the sweet vermouth and the orange bitters; lemon pulls the drink towards a Bamboo.
Behind the Adonis
Flavour Profile
The Origin
Adonis opened on Broadway in 1884, a burlesque starring Henry Dixey, and became the first show there to pass 500 performances. A drink named after it is said to have been created in New York to mark that run.
Which bar first made it is not recorded with certainty; the Hoffman House is sometimes named. The recipe appears in American bar books of the following decades, and it returned with the revival of interest in sherry drinks.
The Adonis and the Bamboo
Both drinks are fino sherry and vermouth, stirred and served up with a twist. The Adonis takes sweet vermouth with orange bitters and an orange twist; the Bamboo swaps in dry vermouth, adds a dash of Angostura and finishes with lemon.
The Bamboo, credited to Louis Eppinger in Yokohama in the 1890s, is the later drink. A few of its first published versions called for sweet vermouth, so they were the Adonis in all but name; the dry drink is the one that kept the Bamboo title.
The Adonis and the Bamboo
Sherry
- Adonis
- 45ml fino
- Bamboo
- 45ml fino
Vermouth
- Adonis
- 30ml sweet
- Bamboo
- 45ml dry
Bitters
- Adonis
- Two dashes orange
- Bamboo
- Two dashes orange, one Angostura
Garnish
- Adonis
- Orange peel
- Bamboo
- Lemon peel
UK units
- Adonis
- About 1.2
- Bamboo
- About 1.5
| Element | Adonis | Bamboo |
|---|---|---|
| Sherry | 45ml fino | 45ml fino |
| Vermouth | 30ml sweet | 45ml dry |
| Bitters | Two dashes orange | Two dashes orange, one Angostura |
| Garnish | Orange peel | Lemon peel |
| UK units | About 1.2 | About 1.5 |
The dry sibling is the Bamboo, the better choice before a meal.
The Sherry
Fino matures beneath flor, a film of yeast that shields the wine from air, and comes out pale, bone dry and faintly salty, with almonds on the finish. Against sweet vermouth that dryness is the balance: swap in a neutral white wine and the drink turns simply sweet.
Both halves are wine and both fade once opened, fino within days and vermouth within weeks. Nothing stronger is in the glass to cover for them, so the drink is only as good as the two bottles.
How to Serve It
Stirred, strained into a chilled coupe, with orange peel expressed over the top and rested on the rim. Make it to order; at this strength it warms quickly and loses its edge once it does.
Make it at home
The Spirit
Fino SherryFino is the palest, driest sherry: Palomino wine usually taken to 15% with wine alcohol and kept for two years or more under flor, a living yeast that keeps air off it. It is bone dry, with almost no sugar, and tastes of almond, bread dough and salt. In a drink it gives dryness and length at low strength, as in the Bamboo and the Adonis.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an Adonis cocktail?
What is the difference between an Adonis and a Bamboo?
How strong is an Adonis?
Which sherry should I use?
Why is it called the Adonis?
Before or after dinner?
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Bamboo
A Bamboo is 45ml fino sherry and 45ml dry vermouth with two dashes of orange bitters and one of Angostura, stirred over ice for 20 to 30 seconds and strained into a chilled coupe, with lemon peel expressed over the top. It is built like a Martini with no spirit in it: two fortified wines, about 1.5 UK units, and around 13% ABV in the glass. Credit usually goes to Louis Eppinger, a German bartender at the Grand Hotel in Yokohama in the 1890s. Within about a decade the drink was in American bars and cocktail books, though some early printed recipes used sweet vermouth, which makes the drink now called the Adonis. The sherry decides it. Fino or manzanilla, served cold from a bottle opened in the last few days, gives a dry, saline drink with a nutty edge. A bottle left open for a month gives a flat one, and that is usually why a Bamboo disappoints.
Sherry Martini
A Sherry Martini is 60ml of London Dry gin and 30ml of fino sherry with a dash of orange bitters, stirred over ice for 20 to 30 seconds and strained into a chilled coupe, with lemon peel expressed over the top. About 2.9 UK units. The fino takes the place of dry vermouth. Fino brings salt, almond and a dry, nutty edge where vermouth brings herbs. The gin still leads, with the sherry underneath it. The fino must be fresh. Sherry aged under flor loses its freshness days after the cork comes out, so chill it and drink the bottle quickly. Nobody is recorded as having invented the drink; it sits beside the Bamboo and the Adonis, longer-established drinks built on fino.
Sherry Cobbler
A Sherry Cobbler is 45ml amontillado and 45ml palo cortado shaken hard with a teaspoon of superfine sugar and two quarter wheels each of orange and lemon, then strained into a glass packed with crushed ice. Fresh berries and more quarter wheels of citrus go on top, with a straw. About 1.6 UK units. That is the IBA’s specification. Jerry Thomas printed a simpler one in 1862: sherry, sugar and two or three slices of orange over shaved ice. In 1888 the bartender Harry Johnson called it the most popular drink in America, and like many classics it faded after Prohibition. It is a low-strength drink built on wine, so the sherry has nowhere to hide. Amontillado gives a dry, nutty base and palo cortado adds weight. The crushed ice chills it hard and dilutes it fast, and the sugar and citrus keep it bright while it does.
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 12 October 2026