Opal

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (56 ratings)

Photographed in an UB Retro Coupe Gold 7.75oz

Ingredients:
1 23 oz Hayman's London Dry Gin
12 oz Cointreau triple sec liqueur
1 14 oz Orange juice (freshly squeezed)
14 oz Monin Pure Cane Syrup (65.0°brix, equivalent to 2:1 rich syrup)
0.04 oz Orange blossom water / Orange flower water
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
  2. Prepare garnish of orange zest twist.
  3. SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
  4. FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
  5. EXPRESS orange zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 7/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 6/10

Review:

Fresh, fragrant flavours of zesty orange and gin with a subtle floral note.

View readers' comments

Variant:

Red Opal

History:

Thought to have originated in the 1920s, the Opal notably appears in in Harry Craddock's 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book.

OPAL COCKTAIL.
(6 people)
3 Glasses Gin.
2 Glasses Orange juice.
1 Glass of Cointreau.
A little sugar.
Add a little Orange-flower water.
Shake and serve.

Harry Craddock, 1930

Nutrition:

One serving of Opal contains 188 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.4 standard drinks
  • 17.58% alc./vol. (17.58° proof)
  • 19.6 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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Peter McCarthy’s Avatar Peter McCarthy
9th June 2024 at 20:08
Gin + orange + a light perfume-y floral note. A little sweet, but not too much, imo. Well-balanced, but might need to adjust sugar when using fresh oranges, depending on your oranges. @Simon, this seems like one that could be added to the Breakfast/Brunch category?
Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
10th June 2024 at 13:52
Thanks, Peter. I've added it to the breakfast/brunch category.
ian roberts’ Avatar ian roberts
25th February 2024 at 07:05
This one is really nice and refreshing, took the sugar out as originally a little sweet for my taste
John Hinojos’ Avatar John Hinojos
13th September 2023 at 00:13
Perfect afternoon cocktail. Orange Flower Water adds a nice hint of floral, but not overpowering Used organic, tree ripened oranges as it makes a huge difference in the sweetness of the cocktail. Did dial back the sugar syrup by half to compensate for the orange juice.
Chris Dimal’s Avatar Chris Dimal
19th May 2023 at 09:56
Made it more carefully with better oranges, now I get the point of this drink. Botanical and hard (alcoholic) orange juice with a beautiful, floral finish. Definitely deserving the 4.5 rating.
Chris Dimal’s Avatar Chris Dimal
20th March 2023 at 19:04
Hmm, it's extremely orangey, and not in such a good way. Super floral. I tried my best to measure my orange blossom water to 1.25ml, maybe it still went too far.
1st August 2022 at 01:29
Supremely sweet in taste and appreciation. Added about 4-5 drops of orange blossom water as a rough guesstimate of what 1/24th of an oz is.

As G.M. Genovese notes, strong creamsicle taste to it. Would recommend you stick with Beefeater or a similar gin so you don't overwhelm flavors. Very good drink overall and will be making it again.
G. M. Genovese’s Avatar G. M. Genovese
8th June 2022 at 17:21
Interesting drink. Orange creamsicle tones with the herbal backbite of gin. Well-balanced overall, but I'd try it again dialing back the orange blossom water (1.25 ml = 16 drops for me) to a dash (8 drops). But that's just my taste. I feel like this recipe as is would be appealing to folks who are wary of gin and/or obsessed with orangey flavors. (8 Jun 2022, 1:21p)