Name: Blackthorn No. 2
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 45 ml Sloe gin liqueur; 45 ml Rosso/sweet vermouth; 2.5 ml Sugar syrup (2:1); 2.5 ml Lemon juice; 1 dash Aromatic bitters; 2 dash Orange bitters

Blackthorn No. 2
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Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
1 ¹⁄₂ oz	Hayman's Sloe Gin
1 ¹⁄₂ oz	Strucchi Rosso Vermouth
0.08 oz	Monin Pure Cane Syrup (65.0°brix, equivalent to 2:1 rich syrup)
0.08 oz	Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
1 dash	Angostura Aromatic Bitters
2 dash	Orange Bitters by Angostura

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist.
STIR all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
EXPRESS lemon zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Rosso/rouge/sweet vermouth (di Torino) - Sulphur Dioxide/Sulphites

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

This low-alcohol digestif is a mashup of William Boothby's and Harry Craddock's 1930 Blackthorn No. 2 recipes with a leaning towards Boothby's. It's jammy with delicate herbal undertones.

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Variant:

There are numerous blackthorn recipes, but they fall into two camps: one based on Irish whisky with vermouth and absinthe and the other with gin/sloe gin and vermouth. The numbering of the various Blackthorn variations starts in the 1930 Swallows edition of Boothby's World's Drinks And How To Mix Them and continues in his posthumously published 1934 edition, where he adds the Blackthorn No. 5.
Blackthorn No. 1 - sloe gin, rosso vermouth, dry vermouth, aromatic bitters, orange bitters.
Blackthorn No. 2 - sloe gin, rosso vermouth, sugar syrup, lemon juice, aromatic bitters, orange bitters.
Blackthorn No. 3 (AKA Blackthorn Irish) - Irish whiskey, dry vermouth, absinthe, Bokers bitters.
Blackthorn No. 4 - gin, Dubonnet, kirshwasser, orange bitters.
Blackthorn No. 5 - gin, sloe gin, dry vermouth, lemon juice, sugar syrup, aromatic bitters.
Blackthorn (English) - gin, sloe gin, rosso vermouth, dry vermouth, orange bitters, aromatic bitters.

History:

The recipe for what's now known as the Blackthorn No. 1 appeared in William "Cocktail Bill" Boothby's 1908 World's Drinks And How To Mix Them. This is repeated in the 1930 Swallows edition of Boothby's book, along with three numbered variations, this being number two.

BLACKTHORN, NO. 2
Sloe Gin . . . . . . . . . ⅓
Bitters . . . . . . . . . . . 2 drops
It. Vermouth . . . . . ⅓
Sweet-Sour . . . . . . 1 spoon
Orange bitters . . . . 2 dashes
Stir well with ice, strain into chilled glass and serve.
William Boothby, The World's Drinks And How To Mix Them, 1930

That same year, Harry Craddock also includes a Blackthorn No. 2 in his The Savoy Cocktail Book.

BLACKTHORN COCKTAIL (No. 2).
Dash Orange Bitters.
1/3 Italian Vermouth.
2/3 Sloe Gin
Stir well and strain into cocktail glass.
Harry Craddock, The Savoy Cocktail Book, 1930

Nutrition:

One serving of Blackthorn No. 2 contains 182 calories

Alcohol content:

1.1 standard drinks
15.77% alc./vol. (15.77° proof)
15.1 grams of pure alcohol

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Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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