x.y.z.

3/4 oz Dry Gin (Blue Coat)
3/4 oz Sweet Vermouth (Vya)
3/4 oz Dry Vermouth (Noilly Prat)
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/4 oz Simple Syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. I double strained and added a lemon twist.

On Thursday, I spotted the X.Y.Z. in Robert Vermeire's Cocktails: How to Mix Them and the description of "this cocktail is made exactly like the Bronx, but lemon juice is used instead of orange juice, and a little plain syrup or gomme is added to sweeten the cocktail" made me think of the citrus variation in Satan's Whiskers I had earlier in the week. The text distracted me from realizing that I was about to prepare a Perfect Martini crossed with a Gin Sour, and indeed, I was curious as to what a sweetened-lemon Bronx would be like. There is another X.Y.Z. cocktail that appeared a few years later in The Savoy Cocktail Book which I have had before; that one is essentially a rum Sidecar and is well worth trying in its own right.
Since the drink is one quarter spirits, half vermouth, and a quarter sweetened juice, I decided to go with a higher proof gin to add some kick to it and selected Blue Coat at 94 proof. For the Sour portion, I figured that two parts lemon to one part simple syrup would keep a similar balance as orange juice would in the Bronx. The drink started with a lemon and sweet vermouth aroma. The citrus sip started off slightly sweet, but after a few sips in, the drink became a bit more crisp. The swallow contained the vermouths' wine taste followed by a cleansing juniper-laden botanical finish. In the end, the X.Y.Z. was a lot more interesting than my memories of the overly smooth Bronx being.