Chrysanthemum
A Chrysanthemum is 60ml of dry vermouth and 30ml of Bénédictine, stirred over ice for 20 to 30 seconds and strained into a chilled, absinthe-rinsed coupe, with orange peel expressed over the top. About 2.3 UK units. There is no base spirit, but 30ml of Bénédictine at 40% makes it as strong as our Manhattan. Hugo Ensslin’s 1916 book Recipes for Mixed Drinks has a Chrysanthemum, and accounts of his proportions differ. The two to one of vermouth to Bénédictine poured today keeps the liqueur from taking over. Many recipes stir two or three dashes of absinthe into the drink; we rinse the glass instead. The vermouth is two-thirds of the glass, so its freshness decides the drink. Keep the bottle in the fridge and finish it within a month.
Glassware: Coupe Glass
Garnish: Orange peel
Ingredients
60ml
At about 18% ABV, two-thirds of the drink. Refrigerate it after opening and finish it inside a month; there is no spirit here to cover a stale bottle. Vermouth is a wine, so it contains sulphites.
30ml
At 40% ABV: honey, saffron and herbs, and most of the drink’s strength. Thirty millilitres gives sweetness and depth under the vermouth. There is no close substitute.
5ml, for the rinse
At up to 68% ABV. Turned round the inside of the chilled coupe, then tipped out, leaving a film of anise. Many recipes stir two or three dashes into the drink instead, which makes the anise louder.
Instructions
Chill a coupe in the freezer or with ice and water.
Empty the coupe, pour in the absinthe, swirl to coat the inside and discard the excess.
Add the dry vermouth and Bénédictine to a mixing glass and fill with cubed ice.
Stir for 20 to 30 seconds.
Strain into the rinsed coupe.
Express a wide strip of orange peel over the surface and rest it on the rim.
Our version
Printed recipes differ, and accounts of Hugo Ensslin’s 1916 proportions vary. Most later versions use two parts dry vermouth to one of Bénédictine with dashes of absinthe stirred in. Ours is 60ml to 30ml, with the absinthe as a rinse.
Source: our own specification. Last checked 10 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Coat the whole glass, walls as well as base. Pour in the absinthe, tilt and turn the coupe so it reaches the rim all the way round, then tip out the rest. A pool left at the bottom makes the last sips taste of nothing else. Open a fresh bottle of dry vermouth if yours has stood at room temperature. At 60ml it is two-thirds of the drink, and a tired vermouth tastes flat and faintly medicinal however good the Bénédictine is. Stir for 20 to 30 seconds. Vermouth and Bénédictine need the dilution to knit together; under-stirred, they taste like two things side by side.
Behind the Chrysanthemum
Flavour Profile
The Origin
Ensslin ran the bar at the Hotel Wallick in New York, and in 1916, a few years before Prohibition, he published Recipes for Mixed Drinks. A Chrysanthemum appears in it, with no creator named, and accounts of his proportions differ.
The drink is sometimes credited to the Savoy Cocktail Book of 1930, which came after Ensslin. The two to one ratio now usual keeps the Bénédictine from overwhelming the vermouth.
The Structure
Two parts dry vermouth to one of Bénédictine. The vermouth leads: dry, winey, lightly bitter and herbal. The Bénédictine sits under it with honey, saffron and warmth, and brings most of the alcohol. The absinthe ties them together, its anise touching the herbs in both.
The Rinse
A small measure of absinthe coats the chilled glass and the rest is tipped out. What clings is too little to measure or count in the units, but it scents each sip with anise.
Many printed recipes stir two or three dashes into the drink instead, which makes the absinthe a flavour rather than a scent. That is a fair choice, and a louder drink.
No Base Spirit, Full Strength
The Chrysanthemum is often listed as a low-alcohol drink because it has no base spirit. The numbers say otherwise. Thirty millilitres of Bénédictine at 40% ABV is 1.2 units, and 60ml of dry vermouth adds another 1.08, so the glass holds about 2.3 units, as much as our Manhattan.
The Bamboo and the Adonis, built on sherry and vermouth with no liqueur, are the light members of this family.
Three Wine-Led Classics
The Chrysanthemum beside the Bamboo and the Adonis
Chrysanthemum
- Wine
- 60ml dry vermouth
- Liqueur
- 30ml Bénédictine
- Bitters or absinthe
- Absinthe rinse
- UK units
- About 2.3
Bamboo
- Wine
- 45ml fino sherry, 45ml dry vermouth
- Liqueur
- None
- Bitters or absinthe
- Orange bitters and Angostura
- UK units
- About 1.5
Adonis
- Wine
- 45ml fino or manzanilla, 30ml sweet vermouth
- Liqueur
- None
- Bitters or absinthe
- Orange bitters
- UK units
- About 1.2
| Drink | Wine | Liqueur | Bitters or absinthe | UK units |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chrysanthemum | 60ml dry vermouth | 30ml Bénédictine | Absinthe rinse | About 2.3 |
| Bamboo | 45ml fino sherry, 45ml dry vermouth | None | Orange bitters and Angostura | About 1.5 |
| Adonis | 45ml fino or manzanilla, 30ml sweet vermouth | None | Orange bitters | About 1.2 |
How to Serve It
Stirred, strained into the rinsed coupe, with orange peel expressed over the surface and rested on the rim. It does not hold, so drink it soon after straining, when it is at its coldest and the anise is clearest. Before a meal is its natural place.
For dry vermouth with fino sherry, make a Bamboo; for the same liqueur over rye whiskey, a Monte Carlo.
Make it at home
The Spirit
Dry VermouthDry vermouth is the pale, French style of vermouth, about 18% ABV, with herbs and a light bitterness; a dry label legally means under 50g of sugar per litre. Our Martini takes 10ml of it with 60ml of gin, and it is half of a Bamboo, where it brings herbs and wine acidity without sweetening the drink.
Master the Techniques
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Chrysanthemum?
Is the Chrysanthemum a low-alcohol cocktail?
Where does the Chrysanthemum come from?
How does it differ from a Martini?
How does the absinthe rinse work?
Which dry vermouth should I use?
How strong is a Chrysanthemum?
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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.
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.
Alaska
An Alaska is 50ml of London Dry gin and 25ml of yellow Chartreuse with two dashes of orange bitters, stirred over ice for 30 seconds and strained into a chilled Nick & Nora, with a lemon twist. About 3.1 UK units, all of it spirit. It was in print by 1914, when Jacques Straub’s Drinks listed it as Old Tom gin with a smaller measure of yellow Chartreuse and a dash of orange bitters, shaken. The gin-led ratio has held; the Old Tom and the shaking have not. No one has explained the name. Yellow Chartreuse is the drink. Honeyed and herbal at 43% ABV, softer and sweeter than green, it sweetens the gin and seasons it at once. A full 30-second stir is what turns two strong bottles into one smooth drink.
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 12 October 2026