Vancouver
A Vancouver is 45ml of gin, 22.5ml of sweet vermouth, 7.5ml of Bénédictine and two dashes of orange bitters, stirred over ice for 20 to 30 seconds and served up in a chilled Nick & Nora under a twist of lemon. About 2.5 UK units. It is named for the city and linked by tradition to the Sylvia Hotel on English Bay, a 1912 building that is said to have opened Vancouver’s first cocktail bar in 1954. The link is local tradition: no early recipe has come to light that fixes when or where the drink was first mixed. Structurally it is a Hanky Panky with Bénédictine where the Fernet-Branca would be: the same gin and sweet vermouth, seasoned with honey and herbs instead of menthol and bitterness. A barspoon is enough, and the drink is gentler and rounder for it.
Glassware: Nick & Nora Glass
Garnish: Lemon twist
Ingredients
45ml
A London Dry at around 40% ABV. The vermouth is rich and the Bénédictine honeyed, and the juniper is what keeps the drink from going soft.
22.5ml
A rich Italian style at about 16% ABV. Keep it cold after opening and use it within four weeks or so, because a tired bottle tastes of stewed fruit.
7.5ml
A barspoon, at 40% ABV: honey, warm spice and herbs that thread between the gin and the vermouth. Double it and the drink turns sweet.
2 dashes
Two dashes, orange rather than aromatic. Angostura’s clove would sit on top of the Bénédictine’s spice; orange keeps a rich drink lifted.
Instructions
Chill a Nick & Nora glass in the freezer.
Add the gin, sweet vermouth, Bénédictine 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
The IBA lists no Vancouver, and no early printed recipe settles one. We pour 45ml of gin, 22.5ml of sweet vermouth, 7.5ml of Bénédictine and two dashes of orange bitters, stirred and served up.
Source: our own specification. Last checked 9 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Measure the Bénédictine. At 7.5ml, a barspoon, it seasons the vermouth; at 15ml it sweetens the whole drink, and the aperitif becomes a dessert. Keep the sweet vermouth in the fridge and use it within about four weeks. At 22.5ml it is close to a third of the glass, and an oxidised bottle tastes of stewed fruit, which the Bénédictine’s honey only makes worse. Use orange bitters, not Angostura. Angostura’s clove lands on top of the warm spice the Bénédictine already carries; orange lifts the finish instead.
Behind the Vancouver
Flavour Profile
Where It Comes From
The Vancouver is tied by tradition to the Sylvia Hotel on English Bay. The building went up in 1912 as an apartment block, became a hotel in the 1930s, and is said to have opened the city’s first cocktail bar in 1954.
The drink’s own history is thinner than the hotel’s. No early recipe confirms when or where it was first mixed, so it is best treated as a city’s house drink with a likely home rather than a dated invention.
The Hanky Panky Comparison
Both drinks are gin and sweet vermouth seasoned with a small measure of something herbal, and side by side they show what a seasoning does.
The Hanky Panky uses Fernet-Branca: bitter roots and menthol that most people can name blind. The Vancouver uses Bénédictine, which disappears into the drink and shows up as roundness and a little warm spice.
Bénédictine as a Modifier
Bénédictine is a French herbal liqueur at 40% ABV, sweetened and spiced, to a recipe that is not published.
It is sweet without tasting sugary: honey first, then warm spice, then a faint bitterness that stops it cloying. That last note is why a barspoon can sit in a sweet drink without tipping it over, and why more than a barspoon does.
What Each Part Does
The Vancouver, part by part
Gin
- Measure
- 45ml
- Job
- Juniper and structure
- UK units
- 1.8
Sweet vermouth
- Measure
- 22.5ml
- Job
- Body and dried fruit
- UK units
- 0.36
Bénédictine
- Measure
- 7.5ml
- Job
- Honey and warm spice
- UK units
- 0.3
Orange bitters
- Measure
- Two dashes
- Job
- Lifts the finish
- UK units
- A trace
The glass
- Measure
- A chilled Nick & Nora
- Job
- About 75ml before stirring
- UK units
- About 2.5 in all
| Part | Measure | Job | UK units |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gin | 45ml | Juniper and structure | 1.8 |
| Sweet vermouth | 22.5ml | Body and dried fruit | 0.36 |
| Bénédictine | 7.5ml | Honey and warm spice | 0.3 |
| Orange bitters | Two dashes | Lifts the finish | A trace |
| The glass | A chilled Nick & Nora | About 75ml before stirring | About 2.5 in all |
For Fernet-Branca in place of the Bénédictine, see the Hanky Panky; for Scotch with the same Bénédictine, the Bobby Burns.
A Hotel Bar Drink
It is the kind of drink a hotel bar keeps: easy to make well, easy to drink twice, and as good at six in the evening as at eleven at night.
Most gin and sweet vermouth drinks are either bracing or sweet. This one sits between, which is harder to build than it sounds and depends on the barspoon being a barspoon.
How to Serve It
Stirred for 20 to 30 seconds over cubed ice, strained into a chilled Nick & Nora; express a strip of lemon peel over the top and drop it in.
Lemon rather than orange, despite the bitters. The oil gives the nose something sharp before a drink that is otherwise all warmth.
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 a Vancouver cocktail?
Vancouver or Hanky Panky: what is the difference?
Why only a barspoon of Bénédictine?
Is the Sylvia Hotel story true?
What glass does a Vancouver take?
How strong is a Vancouver?
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Hanky Panky
A Hanky Panky is 45ml of London Dry gin, 45ml of sweet vermouth and 7.5ml of Fernet-Branca, stirred with ice for 20 to 30 seconds and strained into a chilled coupe, with an orange twist expressed over the top and dropped in. About 2.8 UK units. The measures are the IBA’s. Ada Coleman made it at the American Bar of the Savoy, where she was head bartender until she retired in 1926. She told The People in 1925 that she spent hours experimenting for the actor Charles Hawtrey, who had asked for something with a bit of punch in it. He drained the glass and called it the real hanky-panky, and the name stuck. Harry Craddock, who followed her, put it in The Savoy Cocktail Book. Equal gin and sweet vermouth make a sweet Martini. The Fernet-Branca, a bitter Italian amaro, adds menthol and dark herbs, cools the finish and keeps the vermouth from tasting syrupy.
Poet’s Dream
A Poet’s Dream is 45ml of London Dry gin, 22.5ml of dry vermouth, 22.5ml of Bénédictine and two dashes of orange bitters, stirred over ice for 20 to 30 seconds and strained into a chilled coupe, with a lemon twist expressed and dropped in. About 3.2 UK units. Bénédictine usually goes into a drink by the bar spoon or a 7.5ml pour, as background. Here it matches the vermouth and supplies all of the drink’s sweetness, so its honey, spice and herbs come through clearly. The recipe usually cited is in Albert Stevens Crockett’s Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Days of 1931: a third each of Bénédictine, French vermouth and dry gin, with lemon peel squeezed on top. No author is recorded. Equal thirds is sweet by current taste, so ours doubles the gin against the other two and adds orange bitters.
Bobby Burns
A Bobby Burns is 45ml of Scotch, 45ml of sweet vermouth and 7.5ml of Bénédictine, stirred with ice for 20 to 30 seconds and strained into a chilled coupe, with a lemon twist expressed and dropped in. About 2.8 UK units. It is a Rob Roy with Bénédictine in place of the bitters, which makes it rounder and more honeyed. The earliest printed recipe on record is in the National Police Gazette of September 1899. The Savoy Cocktail Book printed it in 1930 and called it one of the very best whisky cocktails. The name may honour the poet. Albert Stevens Crockett, writing about the old Waldorf-Astoria bar in 1931, thought a cigar salesman who drank there the likelier namesake. Either way, Burns Night on 25 January is when most people pour one.
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 12 October 2026