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Allies Cocktail

Clear martini variation made with gin and kummel being poured from a pitcher into a cocktail glass on a bar counter.
Photo by Lizzie Munro

This drink’s single deviation from the typical dry Martini setup of the time is a couple of dashes of the liqueur kümmel, which tastes of caraway and cumin, in place of the usual orange bitters. It’s a nice variation. The name refers to World War I allies England (represented by the gin), France (vermouth), and Russia (kümmel). The recipe comes from Hugo R. Ensslin's 1917 Recipes for Mixing Drinks.

Ingredients

1 ounce dry gin
1 ounce dry vermouth
2 dashes kümmel

Preparation

  1. Combine the ingredients in a mixing glass filled with ice and stir until chilled, about 30 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

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Excerpted from The Martini Cocktail: A Meditation on the World's Greatest Drink, with Recipes © 2019 by Robert Simonson. Photography by Lizzie Munro. Reproduced by permission of Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. All rights reserved. Buy the full book from Amazon.

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