Name: Olympic
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 30 ml Cognac (brandy); 30 ml Orange Curaçao; 30 ml Orange juice; 1 dash Orange bitters

Olympic
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Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
1 oz	Rémy Martin V.S.O.P. cognac
1 oz	Orange Curaçao liqueur
1 oz	Orange juice (freshly squeezed)
1 dash	Orange Bitters by Angostura optional

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
Prepare garnish of orange zest twist.
SHAKE 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

Cocktail of the day:

23rd June 2025 is The day the Olympic Games were founded

Review:

The perfect balance of cognac and orange.

View readers' comments

Variant:

Olympic Class
Bull's Head

History:

Adapted from a recipe in Harry Craddock's 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book.

OLYMPIC COCKTAIL.
1/3 Orange Juice.
1/3 Curacao.
1/3 Brandy.
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.
Harry Craddock, 1930

This cocktail is thought to have been named after the RMS Olympic, one of three almost identical Olympic-class ships built for the White Star Line. The other two, the Titanic and the Britannic, became much better known due to their demise - the Titanic sank after colliding with an iceberg on her maiden voyage, while the Britannic, which never operated as a passenger ship, hit a mine and sank while serving as a hospital ship during the First World War. In contrast, the Olympic sailed for 24 years from 1911 to 1935, including as a troopship during the First World War, earning her the nickname Old Reliable. The Olympic was sold for scrap in April 1935.

Nutrition:

One serving of Olympic contains 179 calories

Alcohol content:

1.3 standard drinks
19.61% alc./vol. (19.61° proof)
17.7 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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Showing 10 of 14 comments for Olympic.
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Chris Brislawn

23rd June at 07:11

Revisited this recipe. A particularly good variation is to increase the cognac (Remy 1738) to 1.5 oz for somewhat drier 3:2:2 proportions and split the curacao between 1/2 oz P. Ferrand Dry (orange) Curacao and 1/2 oz P. Ferrand Limited Edition Late Harvest Moroccan Yuzu Curacao. The orange bitters were replaced by a dash of Bitter Truth Lemon Bitters. No yuzu zest so garnished with an orange twist. The Moroccan yuzu curacao and lemon bitters increase the complexity while preserving the citrus focus of the original and take this to a new level.

Alex S

5th April at 15:35

Since it's Olympic, I made it with Metaxa 7 star, and it really shone through! Lovely drink.

C1um5yBar5teward

1st March at 22:33

I used Camus Isle de Re cliffside cellar cognac for this. There's a saltiness to it (if that's the right word, not sure how best to describe it?) that compliments the sweetness of the drink and gives it more bite or mouthfeel maybe. Plus I go heavy on the orange bitters for my taste buds (about 8 dashes does it for me). For a higher washline in my coupe glasses I upped everything to 1.5oz. Happy to have found this as I often have lots of peeled unjuiced oranges. Well, not any more!

Ryan Harrold

7th May 2024 at 12:48

This drink is simple yet quite refreshing, without the cognac over dominating orange juice, which I used Monnet VS Cognac and things turned out great, which I’m glad I decided to try this

Chris Dimal

5th April 2024 at 16:36

I used St. Remy XO (a brandy under the parent company of Remy Martin Cognac), alongside Marie Brizard Orange Curacao (nothing else available around). Was really delicious. What I noticed is that the orange bitters are what makes this turn from an after dinner drink to an anytime drink, with a nice zingy, sharp orange flavour.

Mike Gibb

29th March at 17:49

"bitters are what makes this turn from an after dinner drink to an anytime drink" .. possibly the most dangerous (yet alluring) seed of an idea below-the-line on this entire site ..

1 reply

Chris Brislawn

23rd June 2023 at 16:45

Decided to make this and discovered we were out of orange juice, so I tried it with pink grapefruit juice instead (a "Special Olympian"). I cut the juice slightly to 3/4 oz and used 1 oz each of ABK6 VSOP and Ferrand Dry Curacao, with 2 dashes Angostura orange bitters. The curacao played nicely with the bitter edge of the grapefruit juice. The drink didn't seem too sweet, and our taste runs a bit drier than Simon's.

Deimos Ares

4th June 2023 at 12:45

whenever there is triple sec, curaçao, cointreau or grand marnier, I replace it with the italian Aurum. I know that the 3 liqueurs mentioned are not synonymous, but with Aurum I always get the best results

Frederic D.

28th May 2023 at 21:48

Made with Pierre Ferrand 1840 and Grand Marnier. I skipped the bitters since I was looking for both sweet and orange-based. This worked really well for my current mood, and definitely one I will revisit.

Miguel Perales

15th June 2022 at 23:30

I agree that this cocktail is on the sweet side. I added 2 splashes of orange bitters to tone the sweetness down and it helped. Will try lowering the Curacao some to see if it balances better.

Simon Difford

15th December 2022 at 18:40

Agreed, Miquel. I've added a dash of orange bitters. With a dry curacao, the equal parts recipe works and I don't like to mess with an equal parts recipe if balanced - bitters help achieve this.

G. M. Genovese

8th June 2022 at 17:44

Per Per's comment, yes the Cognac doesn't take the upper hand, but I feel like I'd reduce the Curacao (I used Bauchant) by 5 ml, maybe up the Cognac by the same amount? A little too much sweet fat in the middle. (8 Jun 2022, 1:44p)

Simon Difford

15th December 2022 at 18:37

Thanks Michael. I’ve added a link above to my version of the créole shrubb (rather than orange curaçao) Olympic.

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