Tract · Cocktails

Sour · Shaken · Historical · complexity 2/5

Ideal Cocktail

Ensslin's Ideal combines Italian vermouth, dry gin, maraschino, and a little grapefruit juice.

dry · herbal · citrus · aperitif · formal

Served in Cocktail glass. Ice: Cracked ice.

Variants (2)

Recipes for Mixed Drinks by Hugo R. Ensslin (1917, p.20) — Ensslin 1917

Grapefruit juice (fresh) — Juice of a small piece of grapefruitacid
0.5 drinkdry gin — Dry Ginbase
0.5 drinkItalian vermouth — Italian Vermouthbase
3 dashesMaraschino liqueur — Maraschinomodifier
  1. Shake well in a mixing glass with cracked ice.
  2. Strain and serve.

Ice: Cracked ice

This matters because it keeps grapefruit in the pre-war aperitif field as a small structural accent rather than a dominant juice base.

The fresh citrus note slightly loosens the Martini-style field without turning the drink into a full sour.

Cocktails by Pedro Chicote (1928, p.160) — Split-vermouth branch

orange juice — Jugo de naranjaacid
0.33 copitagin — Ginebra Gordonbase
Maraschino — Marrasquinobase
0.33 copitaFrench vermouth — Vermut francesmodifier
0.33 copitaItalian vermouth — Vermut italianomodifier
  1. Shake and serve in a cocktail glass.

Ice: Ice pieces

This matters because it preserves a split-vermouth aromatic with orange and maraschino in the Madrid canon.

See also: Martini Cocktail, Perfect Cocktail