East India No. 2
An East India No. 2 is 45ml of fino sherry and 45ml of dry vermouth with two dashes of orange bitters, stirred over ice for 20 to 30 seconds and strained into a chilled Nick and Nora glass, with a lemon twist. About 1.5 UK units. There is no spirit in it. Sherry with French vermouth appears in Harry Craddock’s Savoy Cocktail Book of 1930 as the East Indian Cocktail: equal parts, with a dash of orange bitters, shaken. The same book prints a separate East India Cocktail built on brandy, a descendant of the one Harry Johnson printed in 1882. It is the Bamboo’s close relation. The two wines are the same; our Bamboo adds a dash of Angostura, and the East India No. 2 leaves the orange bitters to work alone, as the Savoy’s East Indian does. The result is paler, drier and more saline, a glass that drinks closer to cold sherry than to a Martini.
Glassware: Nick & Nora Glass
Garnish: Lemon twist
Ingredients
45ml
At 15% ABV, from a bottle opened in the last few days and kept cold. It gives the saline, almond and mineral spine. Manzanilla works and runs saltier.
45ml
French-style dry vermouth at our working 18% ABV, which we keep refrigerated once opened. It is an equal partner rather than a modifier, so a tired bottle spoils half the drink.
2 dashes
Two dashes. Orange peel reads clearly against a saline wine and a herbal one alike, and with no Angostura in the glass it carries the aromatics alone.
Instructions
Chill a Nick and Nora glass.
Add the fino sherry, dry vermouth and orange bitters to a mixing glass.
Fill with cubed ice and stir for 20 to 30 seconds.
Strain into the chilled glass.
Express a lemon twist over the surface and drop it in.
Our version
Fino and dry vermouth at 45ml each with two dashes of orange bitters, stirred and served up with a lemon twist. The pairing is printed as the East Indian Cocktail in the Savoy Cocktail Book (1930), shaken; the measures in ml and the stir are ours.
Source: our own specification. Last checked 10 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Freshness is the whole recipe. There are two open bottles of wine and nothing else: no spirit to mask them, no citrus to brighten them, no sugar to round them. Fino fades within days of opening and vermouth within weeks, and a tired bottle of either tastes flat in the glass. Keep both in the fridge and buy the smallest bottles you can find. A half bottle of fino finished over a weekend does more for this drink than a full one opened last month. Stir for 20 to 30 seconds and stop. The two wines start at about 16% ABV between them, well under half the strength of gin, and over-stirred the drink is thin before you pick it up.
Behind the East India No. 2
Flavour Profile
Two Drinks Called East India
The first East India is a brandy cocktail. Harry Johnson’s 1882 manual prints it with cognac, red curaçao, raspberry syrup and Angostura, and the Oxford Companion says his 1888 edition switched the syrup to pineapple. The Savoy carries it on with pineapple juice, orange curaçao and Angostura.
The sherry drink arrived separately. Harry Craddock’s Savoy Cocktail Book of 1930 pairs sherry with French vermouth and orange bitters under the name East Indian. We have found no source for why a sherry aperitif took the name, or for when it became No. 2.
Two Wines, One Bitters
Fino and dry vermouth are both dry and both wine, and they are dry in different directions. Fino gets its character from flor, the yeast layer it ages under, and tastes saline, almondy and mineral. Vermouth gets its character from botanicals steeped in a base wine and tastes herbal and faintly bitter.
At equal measure neither overruns the other. Two dashes of orange bitters bridge them, because citrus peel reads clearly against both, and the lemon twist adds the only fresh note in the glass.
Beside the Bamboo and the Coronation
Three fino and dry vermouth drinks, as we make them, with their earliest sources: the Savoy Cocktail Book, Boothby’s 1908 manual and the 1905 Hoffman House guide
Fino sherry
- East India No. 2
- 45ml
- Bamboo
- 45ml
- Coronation No. 1
- 45ml
Dry vermouth
- East India No. 2
- 45ml
- Bamboo
- 45ml
- Coronation No. 1
- 45ml
Orange bitters
- East India No. 2
- Two dashes
- Bamboo
- Two dashes
- Coronation No. 1
- Two dashes
Fourth ingredient
- East India No. 2
- None
- Bamboo
- One dash Angostura
- Coronation No. 1
- 5ml maraschino
Glass
- East India No. 2
- Nick and Nora
- Bamboo
- Coupe
- Coronation No. 1
- Nick and Nora
Origin
- East India No. 2
- In the Savoy Cocktail Book, 1930, as the East Indian
- Bamboo
- Credited to Louis Eppinger, Yokohama, in Boothby (1908)
- Coronation No. 1
- Joseph Rose, Newark; in the Hoffman House guide, 1905
UK units
- East India No. 2
- About 1.5
- Bamboo
- About 1.5
- Coronation No. 1
- About 1.6
| Element | East India No. 2 | Bamboo | Coronation No. 1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fino sherry | 45ml | 45ml | 45ml |
| Dry vermouth | 45ml | 45ml | 45ml |
| Orange bitters | Two dashes | Two dashes | Two dashes |
| Fourth ingredient | None | One dash Angostura | 5ml maraschino |
| Glass | Nick and Nora | Coupe | Nick and Nora |
| Origin | In the Savoy Cocktail Book, 1930, as the East Indian | Credited to Louis Eppinger, Yokohama, in Boothby (1908) | Joseph Rose, Newark; in the Hoffman House guide, 1905 |
| UK units | About 1.5 | About 1.5 | About 1.6 |
The three recipes sit one ingredient apart. A dash of Angostura gives the Bamboo a little clove and weight. A measure of maraschino gives the Coronation a cherry-and-almond lift. With neither, the East India No. 2 is the plainest of them: bone dry, savoury and closer to a glass of very good sherry than to a cocktail.
Low Strength by Design
At about 1.5 UK units it carries less alcohol than a large glass of wine and about two thirds of a Manhattan’s. That is its use: a stirred, cold, aromatic drink before food that leaves room for wine at the table.
How to Serve It
Stirred, strained into a chilled Nick and Nora, with a lemon twist expressed over the surface. The twist matters: at this strength the aromatics do most of the work, and lemon oil is the brightest thing in reach.
For the same wines with a dash of Angostura, make a Bamboo; for sweet vermouth in place of dry, an Adonis.
Make it at home
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an East India No. 2?
What was the first East India?
Is it the same as a Bamboo?
How does it differ from a Coronation No. 1?
Which sherry should I use?
Why is it stirred and not shaken?
How strong is an East India No. 2?
Sources.
Correct as of 19 October 2026.
- Harry Craddock (1930), Internet Archive, “The Savoy Cocktail Book” (primary source: EAST INDIA COCKTAIL (pineapple juice, orange curaçao, Angostura, brandy; stir) and EAST INDIAN COCKTAIL (equal parts French vermouth and sherry with a dash of orange bitters; shake)).
- Harry Johnson (1882), Internet Archive, “New and Improved Illustrated Bartender’s Manual” (primary source (German section): 175. East India Cocktail: raspberry syrup, red curaçao, 2 or 3 dashes Angostura, a wine glass of cognac).
- The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails (Spirits & Distilling), “East India Cocktail” (secondary source (Jim Meehan): Johnson’s 1882 manual the first known appearance; in the 1888 edition the raspberry syrup replaced by pineapple syrup; by 1930 the Savoy had pineapple juice and no maraschino).
- William T. Boothby (1908), Internet Archive, “The World’s Drinks and How to Mix Them” (primary source: BAMBOO COCKTAIL. Originated and named by Mr. Louis Eppinger, Yokohama, Japan: French vermouth, sherry, two dashes orange bitters, two drops Angostura).
- Charles S. Mahoney (1905), Internet Archive, “The Hoffman House Bartender’s Guide” (primary source: Coronation Cocktail arranged by Joseph Rose of Murray Bros.’ Café, Newark).
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Coronation No. 1
A Coronation No. 1 is 45ml of fino sherry, 45ml of dry vermouth, 5ml of maraschino liqueur and two dashes of orange bitters, stirred over ice for 20 to 30 seconds and strained into a chilled Nick and Nora glass, with a lemon twist. About 1.6 UK units, with no spirit at all. The Hoffman House Bartender’s Guide of 1905 prints a Coronation Cocktail credited to Joseph Rose of Murray Brothers’ Café in Newark, New Jersey, and says it won second prize in the Police Gazette Bartenders’ Contest for 1903. Difford’s Guide says it was created for, or soon after, the coronation of Edward VII, held on 9 August 1902. The maraschino is the point. Two dry wines in equal measure make a pale, austere aperitif. A small spoon of cherry liqueur lifts them with a faint almond note and a touch of sweetness, which turns a plain glass into one that suits a toast.
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. William Boothby’s 1908 book credits Louis Eppinger of the Grand Hotel in Yokohama, a German bartender brought to Japan in 1889, as Difford’s Guide, a secondary source, reports. Difford’s finds the drink in newspapers from 1886, three years before Eppinger reached Japan, and an early printed recipe, Thomas Stuart’s of 1904, uses Italian 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. The Consejo Regulador gives an open bottle up to a week in the fridge, and one left open longer gives a flat drink, which 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 of 1884, by VinePair’s account. Imbibe says the drink was named in honour of the first Broadway musical to run for more than 500 performances, and Australian Bartender names the Waldorf-Astoria or, by David Wondrich’s account, the Hoffman House as the bar that made 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.
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 19 October 2026