silver cocktail

1/4 gill Gin (1 oz Beefeater 24)
1/4 gill Dry Vermouth (1 oz Noilly Prat)
3-4 dash Maraschino Liqueur (1 tsp Luxardo)
2 dash Orange Bitters (Regan's)

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Squeeze a lemon peel over the top.
On Sunday night as dinner was in the oven, I found the Silver Cocktail in Robert Vermeire's 1922 Cocktails: How to Mix Them, my recent Boston Shaker store purchase. The Silver Cocktail started with lemon and orange aromas and behaved much like a standard fifty-fifty Martini with an additional pleasant bitter funkiness from the Maraschino to punctuate the swallow. The Maraschino cherry flavors worked rather well with the citrus notes, and the drink shaped up to be a rather delightful dry Martinez. Variations of the Silver Cocktail exist that use Genever and Old Tom Gin as the base spirit; either of these would shift the balance to a somewhat sweeter drink.