Yellow Rattler, the 1922 Martini Shaken with an Onion
Reader ratingsGin and sweet vermouth with a dash of orange bitters, shaken with a small bruised white onion and strained: the Yellow Rattler, which a 1922 London bar book called a cowboys’ cocktail.
- Recipe makes
- 1 drink, about 3 fl oz
- Prep
- Total
Yellow Rattler in a V-shaped cocktail glass, beside a small peeled white onion.
The story behind the recipe
The Yellow Rattler is a sweet Martini shaken with an onion. Robert Vermeire’s London bar book of 1922, Cocktails: How to Mix Them, builds it in three steps. His Martini is dry gin and Italian vermouth with a dash of orange bitters. His Cooperstown is “a Martini Cocktail shaken up with 2 sprigs of fresh mint.” And his Yellow Rattler is “similar to the Cooperstown Cocktail, but a small bruised white onion is used instead of the bruised fresh mint sprigs.”
A cowboys’ cocktail
Vermeire calls the Yellow Rattler a “Cowboys’ Cocktail.” The Cooperstown, he says, was “very popular amongst the cowboys in America,” and its recipe “was given to me by a well-known member of the Peerage who lived amongst them for some time.” That is his story, with no name attached, and the book doesn’t explain “Rattler.” What it does show is a savory onion going into a Martini a generation before the Gibson’s pearl onion on a pick became the usual garnish. The bar trade the book belongs to is told in Cocktails in 1920s London and Paris.
Read more about this recipe
Sweet, not dry
A 1922 London Martini still meant Italian vermouth, which is sweet and amber; the drier Martini of 1904 and the older Martinez show how the drink changed. The onion is crushed and shaken with the rest, then strained out, so it leaves a savory edge without sitting in the glass.
Yellow Rattler Cocktail. This Cowboys’ Cocktail is similar to the Cooperstown Cocktail, but a small bruised white onion is used instead of the bruised fresh mint sprigs.
Cooperstown Cocktail. The Cooperstown is a Martini Cocktail shaken up with 2 sprigs of fresh mint. This drink is very popular amongst the cowboys in America. The recipe was given to me by a well-known member of the Peerage who lived amongst them for some time.
Martini Cocktail. Here is the exact recipe: Fill the bar glass half full with broken ice and add: 1 dash of Orange Bitters. ⅛ gill of Italian Vermouth. ⅜ gill of Dry Gin. Stir up and strain into a cocktail-glass. Squeeze lemon-peel on top.
Recipe makes: 1 drink, about 3 fl oz
Ingredients
For 1 drink, about 3 fl oz. Quantities are shown as written.
Quantities as written here, for 1 drink, about 3 fl oz.
- London dry gin1 3/4 fl oz
- Sweet (Italian) vermouth5/8 fl oz
- Orange bitters1 dash
- Small white onion or pearl onion, peeled1
- Ice cubes1 cup
- Strip lemon peel1
Measurement notes
Ingredients as written here
- 1 3/4 fl oz London dry gin
- 5/8 fl oz sweet (Italian) vermouth
- 1 dash orange bitters
- 1 small white onion or pearl onion, peeled
- 1 cup ice cubes
- 1 strip lemon peel
Equipment
Cocktail shaker and strainer
Small stemmed cocktail glass
Instructions
Chill a small cocktail glass in the freezer or with ice water.
Crush the small white onion or pearl onion lightly with the back of a spoon so it splits, and put it in a cocktail shaker.
Add the ice cubes, orange bitters, sweet (Italian) vermouth and London dry gin.
Close the shaker and shake well for about 10 seconds.
Empty the glass if it holds ice water and strain the drink into it, leaving the onion behind.
Twist the lemon peel over the glass so its oil falls on the drink, then discard it and serve.
Nutrition
145calories 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. Use one small onion for each drink, and shake no more than two at a time.
Notes
Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the batch.
The gill fractions in the Martini are small on the page: they read as an eighth of a gill of vermouth and three-eighths of gin, half a gill in all, Vermeire’s usual cocktail size. That is about 5/8 fl oz and 1 3/4 fl oz. The lemon peel comes from his Martini; the Yellow Rattler entry doesn’t repeat it. The drink is about 27% ABV after shaking. A whole small onion gives a clear savory note; for a lighter one, use half.
Vermeire’s alcohol-free chapter has the Summer Cocktail, red berry juice shaken with lemon and water.
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.
Sources and attribution
Robert Vermeire, Cocktails: How to Mix Them (London: Herbert Jenkins, 1922; eleventh printing), p. 50, “Yellow Rattler Cocktail”, with the Cooperstown Cocktail (p. 24) and Martini Cocktail (p. 36) it builds on
See the original pages (scan at Internet Archive) (opens in a new tab)
Recipe details
- Drink family
- Cocktails & Mixed Drinks
- Region
- British
- Era
- Jazz Age
- Source decade
- 1920s
- Base
- Gin
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Occasion
- 1920s party