Classic cocktail · Guided recipe
Bronx
Start makingA Perfect Martini with a splash of orange juice — gin, both vermouths and fresh orange. A forgotten member of the pre-Prohibition royalty.
In the glassGin · Sweet vermouth · Dry vermouth · Orange juice
See exact amounts
What goes in
Ingredients
Set up before you pour
Use a coupe glass.
The stem keeps your hand away from a cold drink, while the rounded bowl makes an up serve easy to sip.
- Standard size
- 200 ml6¾ oz
- Ice & serve
- Chill it first; serve without ice.
- If you don’t own one
- Use a small martini glass or stemmed dessert glass.
- cocktail shaker
- strainer (or a small sieve)
- jigger or measuring spoon
- Gin45 ml
- Sweet vermouth15 ml
- Dry vermouth15 ml
- Orange juice22 ml
From bottle to glass
Method
- 01
Measure into the shaker Pour 45 ml gin into your shaker
Gin
- 02
Measure into the shaker Add 15 ml sweet vermouth
Sweet vermouth
- 03
Measure into the shaker Add 15 ml dry vermouth
- Dry vermouth
- 04
Measure into the shaker Add 22 ml orange juice
Orange juice
- 05
Ice the shaker Fill the shaker with ice
- 06
Seal and shake Seal and shake hard
- 07
Strain cleanly Strain into a chilled glass — no ice
- 08
Finish the drink Finish it — add an orange twist
Know your drink
About the Bronx
Fame, decline, and egg yolks
Before Prohibition the Bronx sat alongside the Martini and the Manhattan on almost every list, and bar manuals of the era treat it as basic knowledge. Then it disappeared for most of a century. The likely culprit is the juice. Once bars started reaching for bottled orange instead of squeezing to order, the drink stopped being worth ordering, and reputations don't recover from that quickly.
Two period variations still turn up. A Golden Bronx shakes an egg yolk into the same build, which turns it rich and almost custardy. A Silver Bronx uses the white instead and gives you foam without much added flavor. Neither is a modern invention, and both suit the drink better than you'd guess.
Common questions
Bronx FAQ
Does bottled orange juice work?
It'll be drinkable and it won't be good. Bottled juice is pasteurized, which cooks off the top notes and leaves a cooked-marmalade flavor that dominates 22 ml of the glass. One orange gives you enough for two drinks. Squeeze it, strain out the pulp, use it inside the hour.
What makes it go cloudy in the glass?
Orange juice does that when it sits. The pulp and the water drop apart within a few minutes of the drink hitting the glass. Fine-strain through a tea strainer as you pour and it stays together longer, but this is a drink to hand over immediately rather than let stand.
Do I really need two different vermouths?
Yes, and it's the reason the drink works. Dry vermouth keeps the orange from reading as breakfast, sweet vermouth gives it enough body to carry. Using only sweet makes it syrupy. Using only dry makes it thin and sour. Equal splits of 15 ml each is the standard.
Is this the same as an Income Tax Cocktail?
Nearly. Add two dashes of Angostura to a Bronx and you have an Income Tax. The bitters give it a spine the Bronx doesn't have, and it's the version to make if you find the plain one a little polite. Same gin, same two vermouths, same orange juice otherwise.
What ingredients are in a Bronx?
A classic Bronx calls for 45 ml (1.5 oz) Gin, 15 ml (0.5 oz) Sweet vermouth, 15 ml (0.5 oz) Dry vermouth, 22 ml (0.75 oz) Orange juice. That single-serve spec scales cleanly — the recipe above converts it to oz and multiplies it for 2–4 drinks.
How strong is a Bronx?
A standard Bronx is roughly 24% ABV once mixed (before ice melt softens it further). That makes it spirit-forward — closer to a Martini than to a beer, so sip it slowly.
Is a Bronx shaken or stirred?
A Bronx is shaken. About 13 seconds with plenty of ice chills and dilutes it correctly.
Sharpen the technique
Skills used in this recipe
Where to go next
If you like the Bronx, try these.
Income Tax
Two dashes of Angostura separate this from a Bronx, and they do more work than that suggests. Spice pulls the orange juice back from breakfast and gives the pair of vermouths something to hold onto.
View recipe
Satan's Whiskers
Five ingredients in equal measure, which sounds like a mess and isn't. Gin, both vermouths, orange juice and Grand Marnier land somewhere between a Bronx and marmalade. Orange bitters are what keep it from sliding into fruit punch.
View recipe
Journalist
Six ingredients, and four of them measured in single teaspoons. Underneath the fussiness sits a Martini carrying both vermouths at once, with a splash of lemon and a teaspoon of orange liqueur to round the edges.
View recipe