Sharkbait’s Cocktail of the Week: Don’t Give Up

Happy Short week Friday! I’ve been looking forward to this week’s drink for a little while now. The reason being I was going to make it while on vacation on the Cape. Why the Cape? Well, my supply of Fernet Branca has been living there for a little while and I never bothered to re-supply back at home. What is the drink that had me eagerly waiting for my vacation? Don’t Give Up the Ship. This post war drink got its name from the famous order “Don’t give up the ship!” given by Captain James Lawrence aboard the USS Chesapeake during the War of 1812. How this cocktail got named after this famous order is beyond me. Either way, I’m looking forward to trying this one. 

1.5 oz. London Dry Gin

.5 oz. Cointreau

.5 oz. Fernet Branca

.5 oz. sweet vermouth

1-2 dashes orange bitters

Add all ingredients to a mixing glass and stir on ice for 15 to 20 seconds. Strain off the ice into a footed coupe or cocktail glass and garnish with an orange peel.

The drink has a very strong fernet nose I pick up immediately. I can also get  hints of orange mixed in with the bitters and garnish responsible for those. But really, the fernet really drives this drink’s aroma..

I get heavy  bitterness immediately on the first sip from the ferne,. for better or worse. This bitter forward flavor is intense, but it mellows out pretty quickly. The drink sweetens up a bit about midway through the sip thanks to the sweet vermouth doing yeoman’s work to reign in the heavy fernet flavor. The gin for the most part is lost behind all of the other strong flavors going on here. I can get some hints of the juniper here and there, but the gin is most definitely not the star of the show. 

The finish is still bitter, but less so than it is up front. Most of the orange flavors come out at the end which is a nice touch as a finishing note.

Overall, I like this. It is a little close to a Hanky Panky though. Which looking at the ingredient list it isnt surprising. This IS a hanky panky with orange liqueur and orange bitters. So if you weren’t a fan of that, I’d let this ship sink. However, as mentioned before, I did like this. I thought the orange really added a nice depth of flavor and the flavors really played well with the bitter base flavor. Try both side by side and see what you think.