This Tuxedo cocktail recipe falls in with drinks like the Martinez, the Martini and the Turf Club; all storied drinks themselves, with long and somewhat dubious histories.
You’ll find a couple of different Tuxedo cocktail recipes: one, from the 1934 edition of Harry Johnson’s Bartenders Manual (and published a year after his death), sees the Tuxedo as a wet Martini, tricked up with fancy flourishes of absinthe, maraschino, and bitters. It’s like an Improved Gin Cocktail, with the addition of vermouth and served up.
Then you’ll find this version: drawn from the 1935 Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book, this take on the Tuxedo hews closer to a Dry Martini, with the substitution of sherry for vermouth.
The book notes that this cocktail was named for the Tuxedo Club, in upstate New York, whose members often frequented the Waldorf-Astoria bar. And it was at the Waldorf, reckons cocktail historian David Wondrich, that this cocktail was likely invented.
Tuxedo cocktail recipe
Stir all ingredients on ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.
Adapted from the Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book, 1935