Brooklyn cocktail first appears in Jacob A. Grohusko 1908 Jacks Manual calling for equal parts of rye whiskey and Ballor vermouth (Italian sweet vermouth), with a dash of Maraschino and Amer Picon.

Only six years after the Grohusko’s first publication, Jacques Straub picked up his Brooklyn recipe for his 1914 Drinks Manual, and inexplicably changed the Italian vermouth to French vermouth (dry vermouth).

Whatever the reason for the change, it’s this French ‘dry’ vermouth version that’s been followed ever since and immortalized by its inclusion in Harry Craddock’s 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book.

The cocktail is named after one of the five New York city boroughs: Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island.