The Port of Call is one of those drinks the name half-explains: a gin sour reinforced with ruby port, which deepens the color to garnet and lends a raisined, lightly tannic backbone the lemon then cuts clean. It belongs to the daisy family — a spirit, citrus, and sweetener shaken and poured long over crushed ice — and like a lot of port-forward drinks, it reads autumnal without tipping into dessert. Several modern bars have served a cocktail under this name; none of the published versions trace to a single documented creator, so treat it as a contemporary template rather than a canonical recipe.
Port is the easiest way to give a sour weight without making it sweet — it brings fruit and tannin in the same pour.
History
There is no single, well-attested origin for the Port of Call. The name has been attached to more than one drink — a gin-and-port daisy in the Savoy-influenced craft idiom, a port-and-rum sour, and an unrelated 1960s tiki rum punch from a Tucson restaurant that happened to share the name. What the gin versions have in common is the structural move that matters: ruby port standing in for part of the sweetener and most of the body, so the drink gains fruit and color without leaning on extra sugar.
Because the published recipes vary and none names a verifiable inventor, we present the Port of Call as a template — a sound, balanced version of the gin-port daisy rather than a reconstruction of a specific bar's pour. If you've had one elsewhere that ran sweeter, redder, or rum-based, that's the genre, not an error.
The Spec
Lead with London dry gin for backbone, let ruby port carry the fruit and the garnet color, and balance with fresh lemon and a restrained pour of simple syrup. The port is sweet enough that the drink does not need much added sugar; the half-ounce of syrup is there to round the edges, not to sweeten.
Why ruby, not tawny
Reach for ruby port here, not tawny. Ruby is younger, fruitier, and brighter red — it keeps the drink's color vivid and its fruit fresh. Tawny is barrel-aged toward nutty, oxidized caramel notes that read muddy in a citrus drink and dull the garnet to brown. A basic ruby or reserve ruby is exactly right; save the aged tawny for the after-dinner glass.
Crushed ice and dilution
Shake hard with cubed ice to chill and aerate, then strain over fresh crushed ice in a rocks glass. The crushed ice is doing daisy work — it keeps diluting in the glass as you drink, which suits a cocktail this fruit-forward. If you'd rather it stay concentrated, strain over a single large cube instead and accept a slightly richer, sweeter pour.
Bottom Line
The Port of Call is a low-effort way to make a gin sour feel like autumn: one bottle of ruby port does the work of a fruit syrup and a coloring agent at once. Honest about its uncertain pedigree, generous in the glass, and forgiving if your gin or port shifts a little — a good one to keep in the back pocket once the weather turns.