A shallow coupe of clear red-amber cocktail beside an orange slice on a dark polished wood bar against a deep green wall. — H.P.W. Cocktail in a shallow coupe on a dark wood bar, beside a slice of orange.

H.P.W. Cocktail, Harry Payne Whitney’s Gin and Vermouth

Name: H.P.W. Cocktail
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Cuisine: American, British
Ingredients: 3/4 fl oz gin; 1 1/2 fl oz sweet (Italian) vermouth; 1 slice orange; 1 cup ice cubes

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Two parts sweet vermouth to one of gin, shaken with a slice of orange and strained: the H.P.W., made at a New York club for the millionaire Harry Payne Whitney, as a 1922 London bar book told it.

By Forgotten DrinkPublished October 30, 2026

Recipe makes: 1 drink, about 3 fl oz
Prep: 5 min
Total: 5 min

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H.P.W. Cocktail in a shallow coupe on a dark wood bar, beside a slice of orange.

The story behind the recipe

The H.P.W. is a vermouth cocktail with a little gin: two parts Italian vermouth to one of gin, shaken with a slice of orange and strained. Robert Vermeire printed it in his London bar book of 1922, Cocktails: How to Mix Them, and gave it a pedigree. It “was invented by the famous bar-tender ‘Charlie,’ of the Racket Club in New York, as a compliment to the prominent millionaire member of the Club, Mr. Harry Payne Whitney.”

A millionaire’s initials

The New York club is the Racquet and Tennis Club; “Racket” is the book’s spelling. Whitney was one of the richest men in New York, and the drink carries his initials, nothing more. The credit to “Charlie” is Vermeire’s, and we have no other source for it. On another page he prints the same two bottles the other way round, two parts gin to one of vermouth, as the Velocity, named for wartime “velocity shells.” American club drinks like this crossed to London while the United States was dry, a story told in Cocktails in 1920s London and Paris.

Making it today

Mostly vermouth, it is a gentle drink, about 19% ABV, with the orange shaken in rather than floated as a garnish. The Bronx is its gin-forward cousin with orange juice, and the Americano shows how far vermouth goes on its own.

H.P.W. Cocktail. This cocktail was invented by the famous bar-tender “Charlie,” of the Racket Club in New York, as a compliment to the prominent millionaire member of the Club, Mr. Harry Payne Whitney. Ingredients: ⅙ gill of Gin. ²⁄₆ gill of Italian Vermouth. 1 slice of an orange. Shake well and strain into a cocktail-glass.

Robert VermeireCocktails: How to Mix Them (1922), p. 32

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Ingredients

For 1 drink, about 3 fl oz. Quantities are shown as written.

Quantities as written here, for 1 drink, about 3 fl oz.

Gin3/4 fl oz
Sweet (Italian) vermouth1 1/2 fl oz
Orange1 slice
Ice cubes1 cup

Ingredients as written here

3/4 fl oz gin
1 1/2 fl oz sweet (Italian) vermouth
1 slice orange
1 cup ice cubes

Equipment

Cocktail shaker and strainer
Coupe or small cocktail glass

Instructions

Chill a coupe or small cocktail glass in the freezer or with ice water.
Put the ice cubes in a cocktail shaker and add the gin, the sweet (Italian) vermouth and the orange slice.
Close the shaker and shake well for about 10 seconds, so the ice presses the orange.
Empty the glass if it holds ice water, strain the drink into it and serve, with no garnish.

Nutrition

120calories per serving

Recipe makes: 1 drink, about 3 fl oz

Estimated from USDA FoodData Central values for 80-proof gin and typical label values for sweet vermouth, for one drink.

Recipe notes

When adjusting quantities

This is one drink. Keep the vermouth at twice the gin, and shake no more than two at a time.

Notes

Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the batch.

The vermouth fraction prints as “²⁄₆” gill; the Velocity, which Vermeire describes as the same drink with the proportions reversed, confirms it. A sixth of a British gill is about 3/4 fl oz. Use a good sweet vermouth, since it is most of the drink.

Vermeire’s book also has a chapter of drinks without alcohol, among them the Pussyfoot Cocktail, lemon and orange juice shaken with mint and egg white.

Scaling changes the ingredients only; glassware, ice and timings need their own judgment. To adapt this recipe further, try the recipe tool at TuneMyRecipe (opens in a new tab), our sister site.