Bronx
A Bronx is 45ml of London Dry gin, 15ml of sweet vermouth, 15ml of dry vermouth and 30ml of fresh orange juice, shaken hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strained into a chilled coupe, with an orange twist. About 2.3 UK units. It is usually credited to Johnnie Solon, a bartender at the old Waldorf-Astoria in New York, some time between 1899 and 1906, the year the name first appears in print. In his own account, recorded by the hotel’s historian Albert Stevens Crockett in 1931, he named it after the Bronx Zoo. A Bronx restaurateur, Joseph Sormani, was also credited with it. The drink is a Perfect Martini with orange juice shaken through. The split vermouths stop the juice making it soft, and fresh orange is what keeps it bright.
Glassware: Coupe Glass
Garnish: Orange twist
Ingredients
45ml
A firm London Dry at 40% ABV. Juice and two vermouths sit on top of it, and a soft gin loses its shape under them.
15ml
A rich Italian style at about 16% ABV, for body and a little sweetness against the orange. Opened within the month and kept cold.
15ml
French in style, around 18% ABV. Its herbs and dry finish stop the orange and the sweet vermouth tasting soft.
30ml
Squeezed the same day. It is a third of the drink, so carton juice shows at once.
Instructions
Chill a coupe and squeeze the orange juice the same day.
Add the gin, sweet vermouth, dry vermouth and orange juice to a shaker.
Fill with cubed ice and shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds.
Double strain into the chilled coupe.
Express an orange twist over the surface and drop it in.
Our version
Not on the IBA’s current list. Gin, sweet and dry vermouth and fresh orange at 45ml, 15ml, 15ml and 30ml, as in our Income Tax. Solon’s own account, recorded by Crockett in 1931, was two parts gin to one of orange juice with a dash each of the vermouths.
Source: our own specification.
Expert Tip
Squeeze the orange the same day. At 30ml the juice is a third of the drink, and carton juice tastes cooked beside fresh. One orange gives enough for two. Keep both vermouths in the fridge and finish them within a month. Between them they make up a third of the drink, and an oxidised bottle dulls the whole glass. Shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strain. The juice needs the air and the chill, and the fine strainer keeps pulp and ice shards out of the coupe.
Behind the Bronx
Flavour Profile
Johnnie Solon’s Story
Albert Stevens Crockett, the Waldorf-Astoria’s historian, recorded the bartender Johnnie Solon’s account in 1931. A head waiter challenged him to invent a new cocktail. Solon poured two parts gin to one of orange juice, added a dash each of Italian and French vermouth, and shook it.
The name, he said, came from a visit to the Bronx Zoo a day or two earlier, and from customers’ talk of the strange animals they saw after a lot of mixed drinks. By his telling, the bar was soon using several cases of oranges a day.
Other Claims
Solon joined the Waldorf in 1899 and the name was in print by 1906, so his drink falls between those dates. An earlier New York hotel menu listing a Bronx Cocktail suggests the name may already have existed. Joseph Sormani, a Bronx restaurateur, was credited with the drink in his New York Times obituary.
Its fame is easier to show than its origin. A 1934 list of the world’s ten most famous cocktails put it third, behind the Martini and the Manhattan.
The Split Vermouths
Structurally this is a Perfect Martini, gin with equal sweet and dry vermouth, with orange juice shaken through it. Sweet vermouth gives weight and spice; dry gives herbs and a firmer finish. Fifteen of each sit under the juice and keep the drink from tasting like breakfast.
Fresh juice is the other half of it. Carton orange is pasteurised and tastes cooked, and at a third of the glass there is nothing to hide it.
The Bronx and Its Relatives
Our Bronx beside our Income Tax and Monkey Gland
Gin
- Bronx
- 45ml London Dry
- Income Tax
- 45ml London Dry
- Monkey Gland
- 45ml
Orange juice
- Bronx
- 30ml
- Income Tax
- 30ml
- Monkey Gland
- 45ml
Vermouth
- Bronx
- 15ml sweet, 15ml dry
- Income Tax
- 15ml sweet, 15ml dry
- Monkey Gland
- None
Other
- Bronx
- None
- Income Tax
- Two dashes Angostura
- Monkey Gland
- 15ml grenadine, 15ml absinthe
UK units
- Bronx
- About 2.3
- Income Tax
- About 2.4
- Monkey Gland
- About 2.8
| Element | Bronx | Income Tax | Monkey Gland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gin | 45ml London Dry | 45ml London Dry | 45ml |
| Orange juice | 30ml | 30ml | 45ml |
| Vermouth | 15ml sweet, 15ml dry | 15ml sweet, 15ml dry | None |
| Other | None | Two dashes Angostura | 15ml grenadine, 15ml absinthe |
| UK units | About 2.3 | About 2.4 | About 2.8 |
How to Serve It
Shaken, double strained into a chilled coupe, with an orange twist expressed over the surface and dropped in. The peel oils smell of a different part of the orange from the juice, and the drink wants both. It sits well before lunch or early in the evening.
With two dashes of Angostura, an Income Tax; with grenadine and absinthe in place of the vermouths, a Monkey Gland.
Make it at home
The Spirit
GinGin is a spirit flavoured with juniper berries. GB law requires juniper to lead the taste and sets a 37.5% ABV floor; the usual bottle is 40%. The law grades it by how the flavour gets in, from plain gin through distilled gin to London gin, and it carries the Martini, the Negroni and the Gin and Tonic.
Master the Techniques
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is in a Bronx cocktail?
Who invented the Bronx?
Where does the name Bronx come from?
Why are there two vermouths?
Is the Bronx an IBA cocktail?
What is the difference between a Bronx and an Income Tax?
How strong is a Bronx?
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Income Tax
An Income Tax is 45ml of London Dry gin, 15ml each of sweet and dry vermouth, 30ml of fresh orange juice and two dashes of Angostura bitters, shaken hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strained into a chilled coupe, with an orange twist. About 2.4 UK units. It is our Bronx with the bitters added. The Bronx, credited to Johnnie Solon at the Waldorf-Astoria around 1906, is gin, both vermouths and orange juice. Two dashes of Angostura dry its fruity finish and give the vermouths an edge, which moves the drink from brunch towards the aperitif hour. The earliest recipe usually cited is in Harry Craddock’s Savoy Cocktail Book of 1930, where it appears as the Bronx with Angostura. Who named it, and why, is not recorded. The United States had brought in a federal income tax in 1913, and the joke of a small, unavoidable extra suits the bitters.
Martini
A Martini is 60ml of gin and 10ml of dry vermouth, stirred over ice for 20 to 30 seconds and strained into a chilled Martini glass, with oil from a strip of lemon peel expressed over the top, or green olives if you prefer them. That is the IBA’s Dry Martini, a six-to-one build, and about 2.6 UK units. At six to one the vermouth stops being a partner and becomes a seasoning: a dry wine note and a rounder finish under the juniper. Older recipes were far wetter, and the drink has been poured at every ratio from equal parts to a bare rinse. Nothing in a Martini is sweet or sour: it is gin, vermouth, cold and water. The stir supplies the last two, so it shapes the result as surely as the gin.
Monkey Gland
A Monkey Gland is 45ml of gin, 45ml of fresh orange juice, 15ml of grenadine and 15ml of absinthe, shaken hard with ice for 10 to 12 seconds and double strained into a chilled coupe, with an orange twist. Those are the IBA’s measures, a tablespoon each of absinthe and grenadine. About 2.8 UK units. Harry MacElhone printed it in Harry of Ciro’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails in the early 1920s. His 1923 edition calls it his own invention, named after Serge Voronoff’s experiments in rejuvenation: Voronoff grafted slices of monkey testicle into men and claimed it held back old age. MacElhone used far less absinthe, a single dash, with a teaspoon of grenadine and gin and orange in equal halves. At the IBA’s tablespoon the anise leads the drink; at a dash it sits behind the orange. We give his version as a variation.
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 12 October 2026