Bombay Cocktail

Cognac split between dry and sweet vermouth, lifted with orange curaçao and a dash of absinthe — the two-vermouth approach applied to brandy, as the Bamboo applies it to sherry.

The Bombay Cocktail is a pre-Prohibition brandy drink that uses the two-vermouth construction — splitting the vermouth component between dry and sweet expressions — to produce a more complex aperitif than either vermouth alone could achieve. The formula combines cognac with both dry vermouth and sweet vermouth, a measure of orange curaçao, and a dash of absinthe. It appears in Harry Craddock's 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book, where the two-vermouth structure was already a well-established technique: the dry vermouth's crisp, herbal dryness and the sweet vermouth's spiced richness create an intermediate flavor register when combined, softening the sharpness of the dry and lightening the heaviness of the sweet. The Bamboo and the Perfect Martini applied this same logic to sherry and gin respectively; the Bombay Cocktail applied it to cognac. The orange curaçao adds a bittersweet citrus depth, while the single dash of absinthe contributes an anise-fennel aromatic accent that bridges the cognac's fruit and the vermouth's herbaceousness — a small amount goes a long way, perfuming the drink without dominating it. The cocktail belongs to the tradition of multi-component aperitif drinks that were fashionable in European and American bars in the decade before the First World War.