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All cocktails Astor Painless Anaesthetic

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Astor Painless Anaesthetic

Aperitivo/aperitif · Classic/vintage · Martini-style

3.8 31 ratings

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Ingredients

1 1/2 oz Gin
1/2 oz Cognac (brandy)
1/2 oz Dry vermouth
1/2 oz Rosso/sweet vermouth
1/12 oz Sugar syrup 'rich' (2:1)
1 dash Orange bitters

How to make

Serve in a martini glass

Prepare

  1. 1 Select and pre-chill a MARTINI GLASS.
  2. 2 Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist.

Method

  1. 3 STIR all ingredients with ice.
  2. 4 STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish

  1. 5 EXPRESS lemon zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

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Flavour profile

25.2% alc./vol. · 1.7 standard drinks · 183 calories

History

The 1946 recipe from Beebe suggests "just a touch of sugar." After experimentation, a quarter barspoon of rich sugar syrup was found to be preferable, following trials with double that amount and also with bianco vermouth.

This recipe is adapted from Lucius Beebe's 1946 book, The Stork Club Bar Book. Monty Woolley is said to have improved upon the standard dry Martini proportions by increasing the gin and vermouth ratio to four to one. He advised bartenders to use ice and absolutely no lemon, and when asked about the effect on the drinker, he remarked with a sly smile: "Consult Lillian Russell!" Another variation on the gin and vermouth theme, which Cole Porter discovered in "The Two Little Babes in the Woods" to be the source of youth, came from Mary Astor: Astor Painless Anesthetic: 3 oz. gin 1 oz. French vermouth 1 oz. Italian vermouth 1 oz. cognac Shake well with ice cubes and dash of orange bitters, twist of lemon peel and just a touch of sugar