Niesen Buzz Bomb

Adapted from The Stork Club Bar Book (1946)

niessen buzz bomb cocktail stork club bar book

This was the preferred concoction of Gertrude Niesen, an actress and singer and frequent patron of Manhattan’s Stork Club in the 1930s and ‘40s. It’s a hell of a drink—like the prickly cousin of a Long Island Iced Tea—but if you cut out the vodka and go heavy on the Champagne as Dear Irving’s Tom Richter does in his updated version (see Editor’s Note), it turns into a lovely French 75-esque cocktail.

Ingredients

Serving: 1

  • 1 ounce Cointreau
  • 1 ounce Cointreau
  • 1 ounce cognac
  • 1 ounce cognac
  • 1 ounce Bénédictine
  • 1 ounce Bénédictine
  • 1 ounce vodka
  • 1 ounce vodka
  • 1 ounce lime juice
  • 1 ounce lime juice
  • Champagne, to top
  • Champagne, to top

Directions
  1. Add all ingredients except Champagne to a mixing glass and mix with ice.
  2. Strain into a highball glass and top with Champagne.
Editor's Note

Updated Version | Tom Richter:
1 1/2 ounces cognac
1 ounce Bénédictine
3/4 ounce lemon juice
Champagne, to top
Garnish: lemon twist
Add all ingredients except Champagne to a mixing glass and mix with ice. Strain into a highball glass and top with Champagne, and garnish with lemon twist.