This is one I came across thanks to David Wondrich, who writes about cocktails for Esquire magazine. Apparently this was created at the Waldorf-Astoria Bar by some of William Randolph’s old “minions”, although I don’t know if the Old Man ever drank them himself. It’s a delightful cocktail, good for those who still say they don’t like Martinis (um, like me). If I’m going to drink a cocktail named after Hearst, though … I feel compelled to create a cocktail called the “Welles”. Stay tuned.

THE HEARST COCKTAIL

2 ounces London dry gin (or Plymouth gin, if you can find it).
1 ounce sweet vermouth.
One dash orange bitters.
One dash Angostura bitters.

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker with cracked ice,
stir until ice-cold and strain into a cocktail glass.

Wondrich describes this one as “suave”, and that it is. I’d be able to walk any bartender through this one too, except for the criminal lack of ubiquity of orange bitters. Let’s hope Regan’s changes that within the next couple of years.

UPDATE, 2010: Eight years later, I love Martinis to the depths of my soul.

Still love the Hearst, too.