Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
ORDER MY BOOK ➡️
dashbook.com/book/byob-be-your-own-bartender
BYOB — Be Your Own Bartender: Volume 1 — Classics, is coming soon. It features 130 classic and modern classic cocktails, with the recipes, techniques and photography to help you make better drinks at home. If you’ve been following the channel, this book is essentially the culmination of everything I’ve been working on for the past few years.
And today, we’re making one of the more mysterious cocktails in it: the Don’t Give Up the Ship.
At first glance, it seems to have a pretty great story. The name immediately brings to mind the famous words supposedly shouted by Captain James Lawrence during the War of 1812. But the cocktail itself has no known connection to that story.
In fact, the history gets even more interesting. The first known appearance of the cocktail under the name Don’t Give Up the Ship is in Crosby Gaige’s 1941 Cocktail Guide and Ladies’ Companion. But eleven years earlier, Harry Craddock published essentially the same drink in The Savoy Cocktail Book—under a completely different name: the Napoleon.
So how did the Napoleon become the Don’t Give Up the Ship? Who created the original cocktail? And why did Gaige give it that particular name? Those are questions we still can't answer for certain.
What we do know is that the drink eventually disappeared, before being rediscovered during the cocktail revival and brought back into the modern cocktail world by bartenders including Murray Stenson. Decades later, J. E. Clapham revisited the historical recipe and created his own modern interpretation.
And after all that history, there's really only one thing left to do: make the drink.
Don't Give Up the Ship
1½ oz gin
½ oz Sweet Vermouth
½ oz Curaçao
½ oz Fernet-Branca
Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
A bitter, aromatic and surprisingly balanced cocktail that deserves to be much better known.
#cocktails #mixology #dontgiveuptheship #classiccocktails #gin #fernetbranca #cocktailhistory #savoycocktails #craftcocktails #bartending
SHOP YOU KLARIS ICE MAKER HERE ➡️
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FREE COCKTAIL BIBLE V.2 ➡️ https://totr.ck.page/3308168d16
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MY TOP COCKTAIL GEAR
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Mixing Glass geni.us/FF5HFJ
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Jigger geni.us/NcdVTO
Crushed Ice Kit geni.us/pv4m
Bitter Bottles geni.us/5OAx8
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B Light geni.us/wX9q
Tripod geni.us/5oteL
Reflector and diffuser geni.us/miXF6
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Soft boxes
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My Smoke Top ➡️ middletonmixology.com/?ref=ebuynh0sfe
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
ORDER MY BOOK ➡️
dashbook.com/book/byob-be-your-own-bartender
BYOB — Be Your Own Bartender: Volume 1 — Classics, is coming soon. It features 130 classic and modern classic cocktails, with the recipes, techniques and photography to help you make better drinks at home. If you’ve been following the channel, this book is essentially the culmination of everything I’ve been working on for the past few years.
And today, we’re making one of the more mysterious cocktails in it: the Don’t Give Up the Ship.
At first glance, it seems to have a pretty great story. The name immediately brings to mind the famous words supposedly shouted by Captain James Lawrence during the War of 1812. But the cocktail itself has no known connection to that story.
In fact, the history gets even more interesting. The first known appearance of the cocktail under the name Don’t Give Up the Ship is in Crosby Gaige’s 1941 Cocktail Guide and Ladies’ Companion. But eleven years earlier, Harry Craddock published essentially the same drink in The Savoy Cocktail Book—under a completely different name: the Napoleon.
So how did the Napoleon become the Don’t Give Up the Ship? Who created the original cocktail? And why did Gaige give it that particular name? Those are questions we still can't answer for certain.
What we do know is that the drink eventually disappeared, before being rediscovered during the cocktail revival and brought back into the modern cocktail world by bartenders including Murray Stenson. Decades later, J. E. Clapham revisited the historical recipe and created his own modern interpretation.
And after all that history, there's really only one thing left to do: make the drink.
Don't Give Up the Ship
1½ oz gin
½ oz Sweet Vermouth
½ oz Curaçao
½ oz Fernet-Branca
Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
A bitter, aromatic and surprisingly balanced cocktail that deserves to be much better known.
#cocktails #mixology #dontgiveuptheship #classiccocktails #gin #fernetbranca #cocktailhistory #savoycocktails #craftcocktails #bartending
SHOP YOU KLARIS ICE MAKER HERE ➡️
craftklaris.com/discount/TOTR10?redirect=/products/klaris-clear-ice-maker
DON'T FORGET THE PROMO CODE FOR YOUR 1O% DISCOUNT ➡️ TOTR10
FREE COCKTAIL BIBLE V.2 ➡️ https://totr.ck.page/3308168d16
TRY STEVE THE BARTENDER BITTERS ➡️ https://shop.stevethebartender.com.au/?ref=TOTR10
USE MY CODE TOTR10 FOR 10% OFF
JOIN OUR PATREON ➡️ patreon.com/totr?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_link
MY TOP COCKTAIL GEAR
Shaker geni.us/9rmIH
Mixing Glass geni.us/FF5HFJ
Strainer geni.us/BjWZ
Jigger geni.us/NcdVTO
Crushed Ice Kit geni.us/pv4m
Bitter Bottles geni.us/5OAx8
MY VIDEO / PHOTO GEAR
A Camera geni.us/PoZ9z96
B Camera geni.us/3CqyYBt
Main Light (America) geni.us/NgnD
Main Light (Europe) geni.us/HN1IbO
B Light geni.us/wX9q
Tripod geni.us/5oteL
Reflector and diffuser geni.us/miXF6
Speed Lights geni.us/iOJ1
Soft boxes
geni.us/y2Fbmk
geni.us/I777
My Smoke Top ➡️ middletonmixology.com/?ref=ebuynh0sfe
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
