Bamboo

Dry sherry and dry vermouth with bitters: Japan’s low-alcohol answer to the Martini.

• Dry sherry45 ml
• Dry vermouth45 ml
• Angostura bitters2 dashes
• Orange bitters1 dash
• Lemon peelto garnish

Stir the sherry, vermouth and bitters with ice until chilled. Strain into a chilled coupe and garnish with a lemon twist.

CREATED

1880s

CREATOR

Louis Eppinger (credited)

STATE

United States

LOCATION

San Francisco, California (likely); later Yokohama, Japan

The Bamboo is the best known of the classic sherry cocktails, made from sherry and vermouth with bitters rather than a base spirit. William T. Boothby’s 1908 book credits it to Louis Eppinger at the Grand Hotel in Yokohama, Japan. Yet the first reference dates to 1886, three years before Eppinger moved to Japan, suggesting he created it while working in San Francisco or Portland in the mid-1880s.