Don't Give Up the Ship
A stiff, aromatic stirred cocktail with gin, sweet vermouth, Cointreau, and Fernet-Branca — a civilized classic revived from the 1940s.
- 1½ ozgin
- ½ ozcointreau
- ½ ozsweet vermouth
- ½ ozfernet branca
- 1 dashorange bitters
- Orange peelgarnish
- 1Combine gin, Cointreau, sweet vermouth, Fernet-Branca, and orange bitters in a mixing glass.
- 2Fill with ice and stir for 20–25 seconds until well chilled.
- 3Strain into a chilled coupe glass.
- 4Express an orange peel over the glass and use as garnish.
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Don't Give Up the Ship first appeared in Crosby Gaige's "Cocktail Guide and Ladies' Companion" (1941), itself based on the Napoleon Cocktail from Harry Craddock's 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book. The name references the famous dying words of American naval commander James Lawrence in the War of 1812. The cocktail was revived around 2004 at the Zig Zag Café in Seattle and has since become a touchstone for bartenders who appreciate Fernet-Branca's bitter complexity in a spirit-forward format.
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