The Ants in Your Pants cocktail is definitely not well known. I found it online on only one site, Spiritdrinks.com. I got it from Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide, my awesome 1948 edition. To make one, combine with ice
- 1 oz gin (Ivanobitch)
- 1/2 oz Grand Marnier
- 1/2 oz sweet vermouth (Carpano Antica)
- 2 dashes lemon juice

strain into a chilled cocktail glass, and garnish with a lemon peel. I didn’t have a lemon, so I used lime juice and lime peel. It works just as well. Sure, the smell is little different, but this drink is still great.
Who would have thought that Grand Marnier and sweet vermouth would go together, but they do. It’s the right amount of sweetness tempered with just a tad of lime juice. The smell is great, and the taste is spectacular. I highly recommend this one. Don’t be afraid of the sweet vermouth, either. If you’re normally not a fan, you don’t taste the herbal bitterness here because of its play with the curacao.
When I was a kid, we had a wall paper in one room that had various cocktail recipes. Ants in the Pants was one we, as kids, thought was funny. The wall paper was from the 1950’s. Very fun!