Gibson (cocktail) Gibson (cocktail) The Gibson is a mixed drink made with gin and dry vermouth, and often garnished with a pickled onion. The oldest published recipe for the Gibson is found in the 1908 book, "The World's Drinks And How To Mix Them" by William Boothby. Other pre-prohibition recipes for the Gibson exist. They all omit bitters and none of them garnish with an onion. Some garnish with citrus twists. Others use no garniture at all. There is no known recipe for the Gibson garnishes with an onion before William Boothby's 1908 Gibson Recipe. Some sources persist in using other garnishment
Vermouth found a new use for vermouth. Bartenders found that it was an ideal mixer for many cocktails, including the Martini (beginning in the 1860s) and the Manhattan (beginning around 1874). In addition, the popular Vermouth cocktail, first appearing in 1869, consisted of chilled vermouth and a twist of lemon peel with the occasional addition of small amounts of bitters or maraschino. The popularity of vermouth-heavy cocktails in America, often using twice as much vermouth as gin or whiskey, continued through the 1880s and 1890s. Although the amount of vermouth used in cocktail recipes had somewhat declined, it has recently been