Rabo de Galo Cocktail Recipe
Cachaça stirred with sweet vermouth and a bitter amaro — Brazil's answer to the Manhattan.
- Category: Contemporary Classics
- Glass: Old fashioned glass
- ABV: 26%
- Difficulty: Easy
- Prep time: ~3 min
Ingredients
- Cachaça50 ml (1.7 oz)
- Sweet red vermouth30 ml (1 oz)
- Fernet-Branca10 ml (0.3 oz)
How to Make It
- Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with ice.
- Stir until well chilled.
- Strain into a rocks glass over ice.
- Express orange zest over the surface.
Garnish
Orange zest
What it tastes like
It has a bitter backbone, it has a green, botanical backdrop and the spirit is right out front.
The technique
Stirring. All-spirit drinks are stirred — shaking whips air into them and ruins both the clarity and the texture. Thirty to forty seconds in a mixing glass, the spoon tracing the wall. You are after the same ~20% dilution, just slower and under control.
Glass and ice
A heavy-bottomed, wide old fashioned glass. Wide enough for one large cube, which is the point: a big cube has less surface area, so the drink gets cold without getting watery.
Ingredient notes and substitutes
- Sweet red vermouth
- Once opened it lives IN THE FRIDGE and should be finished within a month; a bottle left at room temperature oxidises in a few weeks and sours the drink.
- Fernet-Branca
- The best-known brand of the fernet category, around 39% and markedly bitter. Another fernet works, but most are softer, so the measure goes up a little.
The Story
The name means "rooster's tail", a literal rendering of "cocktail"; it began as a two-ingredient bar snack drink in Minas Gerais.
Frequently asked questions
- How is a Rabo de Galo mixed?
- It is stirred and served in an old fashioned glass.
- How strong is a Rabo de Galo?
- Roughly 26% ABV as served — a spirit-strength drink — sipped slowly, and it wants a glass of water beside it.
- Can a Rabo de Galo be made without alcohol?
- Simply leaving the spirit out does not work — the body and the bitterness go with it. The 86 alcohol-free recipes in the catalogue are built to hit that balance from the start.
- Is a Rabo de Galo hard to make?
- Easy. No bar kit required — a measure, ice and a jar will do.
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Alcoholic drink recipes are intended for those aged 18 and over. Please drink responsibly.