Name: London Cocktail
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 60 ml Gin; 2.5 ml Sugar syrup (2:1); 7.5 ml Chilled water; 3 dash Absinthe; 3 dash Orange bitters

London Cocktail
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Serve in a Nick & Nora glass

Ingredients:
2 oz	Hayman's London Dry Gin
¹⁄₁₂ oz	Monin Pure Cane Syrup (65.0°brix, equivalent to 2:1 rich syrup)
¹⁄₄ oz	Chilled water omit if using wet ice
3 dash	La Fée Parisienne absinthe
3 dash	Orange Bitters by Angostura

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

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

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

Chilled, diluted and very subtly sweetened gin invigorated by a hint of absinthe and zesty orange.

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History:

Adapted from a recipe in the 1922 book Cocktails: How to Mix Them by Robert Vermeire who worked at London's Embassy Club. The title page confirms this, saying "By Robert of the Embassy Club" and the book was published in London by Hebert Jenkins Limited.

London Cocktail.
Fill a bar glass half full of broken ice and add:
2 dashes of Orange Bitters.
2 dashes of Gum Syrup.
2 dashes of Absinthe.
½ gill of London Dry Gin.
Stir up, strain into a cocktail-glass, add an olive, and squeeze lemon-peel on top.
Robert Vermeire, Cocktails - How to Mix Them, 1922

LONDON COCKTAIL.
2 Dashes Orange Bitters.
2 Dashes Syrup.
2 Dashes Absinthe.
1/3 Dry Gin.
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.
Harry Craddock, 1930

More cocktails by Harry Craddock

Nutrition:

One serving of London Cocktail contains 145 calories

Alcohol content:

1.4 standard drinks
28.07% alc./vol. (28.07° proof)
20.2 grams of pure alcohol

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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Angel Aguilera

26th June 2024 at 04:45

Curious why the recipe calls for shaking over stirring?

Simon Difford

11th July 2024 at 21:29

That recipe, as per the original, is better with the extra dilution that comes with shaking. I've now adapted the recipe to be stirred.

Robert Naylor

13th October 2023 at 21:24

For such a simple cocktail it's wonderfully flavoursome.

John Hinojos

1st May 2022 at 00:24

What a great cocktail. Simple and flavourful. Love the hint of absinthe.

Richard Elgar

12th January 2022 at 16:54

Surprisingly tasty for such a relatively simple drink. I struggle to see how the addition of absinthe to the gin led to it being called the London Cocktail though!

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