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A greyhound is a cocktail consisting of grapefruit juice and either gin or vodka mixed and served over ice. If the rim of the glass has been salted, the drink is instead called a salty dog.
Contents
History
The earliest known mention of a cocktail of this description is in bartender and author Harry Craddock's Savoy Cocktail Book of 1930. Craddock describes his recipe as "...a variation of the Grapefruit Cocktail...", suggesting that such cocktails were already in common use before his book was written. His recipe consists of nothing but gin, grapefruit juice and ice.
A recipe for a similar cocktail with the name "Greyhound" appears in Harper's magazine in 1945 (volume 191, page 461) thus: "The cocktails were made of vodka, sugar, and canned grapefruit juice -- a greyhound. This cocktail was served at Greyhound's popular restaurant chain that was located at bus terminals, called 'Post House'."
Before 1945, vodka was an uncommon spirit and most drinks we think of today as "classic cocktails" and which call for vodka, originally would have contained gin. As vodka's popularity grew after the War and gin's popularity waned, many of the popular cocktails persisted, albeit with vodka substituted for gin. The most conspicuous of these is the Martini which, before 1945, would invariably have been made with gin.
The reason that most cocktails during and just after prohibition were prepared with salted or sugared rims is because the quality of adult beverages was not so appealing. Also, more currently, both the greyhounds and the salty dogs are more often ordered / made with vodkas not gins. The root cause of this is for taste preferences and to serve a broader market.
Garnish
For the greyhound, twist of lime or lemon.
