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.
Glassware: Coupe Glass
Garnish: Lemon peel
Ingredients
45ml
Fino or manzanilla, kept in the fridge and opened within the last few days. Both are aged under flor, which leaves them pale, dry and saline, and both fade quickly once opened. Amontillado makes a rounder, nuttier drink.
45ml
A French-style dry vermouth such as Noilly Prat or Dolin. Refrigerate after opening and use within about four weeks; at equal volume with the sherry, a stale bottle shows straight away.
2 dashes
Two dashes. They tie the nutty sherry to the herbal vermouth. Regans’ No. 6 or Fee Brothers both work.
1 dash
One dash, for spice underneath. Some recipes leave it out, and the drink is plainer without it.
Instructions
Chill a coupe in the freezer or with ice water.
Add the fino sherry, dry vermouth, orange bitters and Angostura to a mixing glass.
Fill the mixing glass with cubed ice and stir for 20 to 30 seconds.
Discard the ice from the coupe and strain the drink into it.
Express a wide strip of lemon peel over the surface, rest it on the rim and serve.
Expert Tip
Open the sherry for the drink, or use a bottle opened in the last few days. Fino and manzanilla are aged under flor and fade quickly once opened: keep an open bottle in the fridge and finish it within a few days, as you would a white wine. The dry vermouth keeps longer, about four weeks in the fridge. Keep both bottles cold and the drink starts cold, so a 20 to 30 second stir finishes the chill and adds the right amount of water. Warm bottles need longer on the ice, and the drink ends up watery. If a Bamboo tastes flat, open a fresh bottle of fino before you change anything else. Nothing in the glass hides a tired sherry.
Behind the Bamboo
Flavour Profile
The Origin
Credit for the Bamboo usually goes to Louis Eppinger, a German bartender who worked at the Grand Hotel in Yokohama in the 1890s and early 1900s. Yokohama had opened to foreign trade in 1859, and the hotel bar served the merchants, diplomats and travellers passing through the port.
Within about a decade the drink had crossed the Pacific and was in American bars and cocktail books. The early printed recipes do not agree. Some use sweet vermouth, which makes the drink now called the Adonis, and it was the dry version, sherry, dry vermouth and bitters, that kept the name Bamboo.
The Structure
The Bamboo is built like a Martini: stirred, strained and served cold with a twist. The difference is that both halves are fortified wines. There is no spirit to carry it, so each part has a job.
Bamboo: what each ingredient does
Fino sherry
- Measure
- 45ml
- ABV
- 15%
- Its job
- Body, salt and a nutty dryness
Dry vermouth
- Measure
- 45ml
- ABV
- About 18%
- Its job
- Herbs, a little bitterness and length
Orange bitters
- Measure
- Two dashes
- ABV
- Negligible
- Its job
- Ties the sherry to the vermouth
Angostura
- Measure
- One dash
- ABV
- Negligible
- Its job
- Spice underneath
| Ingredient | Measure | ABV | Its job |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fino sherry | 45ml | 15% | Body, salt and a nutty dryness |
| Dry vermouth | 45ml | About 18% | Herbs, a little bitterness and length |
| Orange bitters | Two dashes | Negligible | Ties the sherry to the vermouth |
| Angostura | One dash | Negligible | Spice underneath |
Together that is about 1.5 UK units in a drink of around 115ml once stirred, roughly 13% ABV. That is about the alcohol in a small 125ml glass of wine at 12%, in a drink that looks like a Martini.
The Sherry Question
Fino and manzanilla are the driest sherries. They are aged under flor, a layer of yeast that grows on the wine in the cask and keeps the air off it, which leaves them pale, dry and saline with a nutty edge. Manzanilla is the same style aged in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, and it tends to be lighter and saltier.
Amontillado begins under flor and is then aged with air, so it is darker and nuttier. In a Bamboo it makes a rounder drink that suits a cold evening. Both are correct; they are different drinks.
Cold and Fresh
The Consejo Regulador, which governs sherry, puts the serving temperature for fino and manzanilla at 5 to 7°C. Keep the bottle in the fridge and it goes into the mixing glass already cold, so a 20 to 30 second stir finishes the chill and adds the right water without thinning the drink.
Once opened, fino fades fast. A half bottle, kept in the fridge and finished inside a few days, suits a drink that uses 45ml at a time. Dry vermouth lasts longer, about four weeks in the fridge. If a Bamboo has disappointed you before, a tired bottle of sherry is the likely reason.
How to Serve It
Stirred, strained into a chilled coupe, with lemon peel expressed over the top and rested on the rim. It is an aperitif: serve it before a meal with olives or salted almonds, and make it to order, because it warms quickly in the glass.
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 a Bamboo cocktail?
How much alcohol is in a Bamboo?
Who created the Bamboo?
What is the difference between a Bamboo and an Adonis?
Why does freshness matter so much?
Which sherry should I use?
How does it differ from a Martini?
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Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 12 October 2026