Fourth Regiment Cocktail is from the book “The Gentleman’s Companion: Being an Exotic Drinking Book Or, Around the world with Jigger, Baker and Flask”, originally from the 1930s. We unfortunately don’t own a copy (yet) but we found the page on Google Books.
“THE FOURTH REGIMENT COCKTAIL, Brought to Our Amazed Attention by One Commander Livesey, in Command of One of His Majesty’s Dapper Little Sloops of War, out in Bombay, a.d. 1931”
“This, we discovered finally, was merely a Manhattan Cocktail made in 4 oz size, spiced with 1 dash each of celery, Angostura and orange bitters – but why the last was included we never have understood as the Angostura dominates. Chill very cold and garnish with a twist of green lime peel squeezed so as to deposit oil upon the waters after the drink is poured.”
Curious of the celery bitter we just needed to try this Manhattan twist. And yes the celery is dominant in the cocktail but surprisingly very balanced and tasty.
We used a modern recipe found in Parsons Bitters book.
Fourth Regiment Cocktail
1 oz rye
1 oz sweet vermouth
1 dash celery bitters
1 dash orange bitters
1 dash Angostura bitters
Stir and strain into a coupe and garnish with a lemon twist.