salome cocktail

1/3 Dry Gin (1 oz Beefeater)
1/3 French Vermouth (1 oz Noilly Prat Dry)
1/3 Dubonnet Rouge

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass; I added a lemon twist.

Two Wednesdays ago, I was flipping through the 2016 Waldorf Astoria Bar Book and spotted the Salome. I had previously made the one that appeared in Jacques Straub's 1914 Drinks, and I decided to make the later variation from the Savoy Cocktail Book now that I had the new formulation of Dubonnet. Essentially this recipe was the Zaza (equal parts gin and Dubonnet) with a third equal part of French vermouth that I interpreted as dry vermouth to keep the sweetness in check.
The Salome Cocktail delivered an orange, cherry, chocolate, and pine aroma to the nose. Next, grape and cherry notes on the sip gave way to juniper, dark fruit, grape, and lemon flavors on the swallow. With the new Dubonnet formulation and a punchy gin, this was a rather elegant drink.