Palmetto
Aged rum, sweet vermouth and orange bitters, stirred. The rum Manhattan of the 1900s — simple, rich, and the best argument for a good aged rum in a stirred drink.
Built to the standard modern spec; not yet tested in our kitchen. How we test.
The recipe.
Scaling adjusts quantities only. Prepare shaken drinks in individual portions.
Let’s make a good drink.
Chill a coupe, or fill a rocks glass with a large cube.
Add the rum, sweet vermouth and orange bitters to a mixing glass.
Fill with ice and stir for 25 seconds.
Strain into the glass, express an orange peel over the top and drop it in.
A thoughtful finish
- The rum is the drink; an aged rum with genuine oak and some funk makes a Palmetto worth drinking, a gold rum with caramel colouring does not.
- Two to one is the modern balance; the Savoy's equal parts is sweeter.
- Orange bitters, not Angostura; they are what separate it from a rum Manhattan with the wrong bitters.
Common mistakes
- Spiced rum.
- Angostura instead of orange bitters.
- Shaking.
A few good questions.
What does a Palmetto taste like?
A rum Manhattan — aged rum's caramel and fruit against sweet vermouth, lifted with orange bitters. Rich and smooth.
Which rum?
Any aged rum with real character: a Barbados or Guyana rum of five to eight years, a Jamaican, a Cuban-style añejo.
How is it different from a Rum Manhattan?
Orange bitters in place of Angostura, and the name. Otherwise the same drink.
Why 'Palmetto'?
For the palmetto palm of the American South, where rum and vermouth met.
Variations
- Manhattan — Rye and sweet vermouth.
- El Presidente — Rum, blanc vermouth, curaçao and grenadine.
- Rum Old Fashioned — Aged rum, sugar and bitters.
- Emerald — Irish whiskey and sweet vermouth.
Where it comes from
c. 1900s · United States
The Palmetto appears in bar books of the 1900s and in the Savoy Cocktail Book of 1930 as rum and Italian vermouth in equal parts with orange bitters, stirred — the Manhattan’s formula on rum, named for the palmetto tree of the Carolinas and Florida. It was one of a family of rum-and-vermouth drinks (the El Presidente, the Cuban Manhattan) from the years when Cuban rum was reaching American bars, and it was forgotten with them. With a good aged rum it is one of the best simple stirred drinks there is, and the orange bitters are what make it.
Sources
- Harry Craddock, The Savoy Cocktail Book, 1930 (book)
- David Wondrich, Imbibe!, 2015 (book)
- Wayne Curtis, And a Bottle of Rum, 2006 (book)
Strength. About 1.74 US standard drinks at an estimated 28.5% ABV, estimated from the ingredients and technique, not measured. What that means.
A little character in every sip.
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