Name: Self-starter
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 30 ml Gin; 15 ml Aromatized wine; 7.5 ml Blanc quinquina/kina; 7.5 ml Apricot liqueur; 2 dash Absinthe

Self-starter
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Photographed in a Bespoke Nick & Nora

Ingredients:
1 oz	Hayman's London Dry Gin
¹⁄₂ oz	Aromatized wine (e.g. Lillet Blanc)
¹⁄₄ oz	Blanc quinquina/kina (e.g. Mattei Cap Corse, Bonal or Kina L'Aér
¹⁄₄ oz	Luxardo Apricot Albicocca Liqueur
2 dash	La Fée Parisienne absinthe

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Nick & Nora 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.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

Kina aperitif and dashes of absinthe add all-important bitterness to balance this gin-based apricot-flavoured aperitif.

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History:

The Self-starter was first published in Harry Craddock's 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book.

SELF-STARTER COCKTAIL.
1/8 Apricot Brandy.
3/8 Kina Lillet.
½ Dry Gin.
2 Dashes Absinthe.
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.
Harry Craddock, 1930

More cocktails by Harry Craddock

Nutrition:

One serving of Self-starter contains 118 calories

Alcohol content:

1.1 standard drinks
24.69% alc./vol. (24.69° proof)
15 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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John CARR

26th November 2024 at 13:00

Agree with Chris that this on the sweet side. Due to kinas being unavailable in Australia, I went with 22.5ml Cocchi Americano. However, it was lacking in bitterness so added a little dash of orange bitters. Vintage, no punches pulled flavour. Would likewise be tempted to up the gin a tad to dry it out and add more definition.

Chris Brislawn

27th November 2024 at 04:34

I cannot get Tempus Fugit Kina L'Aero d'Or in my home state, either. I found a bottle by accident while buying wine on vacation at a wine shop in Walla Walla, Washington, a thousand miles from my home. You might try Bonal Gentiane-Quina Aperitif or Luxardo Bitter Bianco, both of which I like better than Cocchi Americano for this sort of recipe. And the recipe only has 2 oz of liquid in it as is, making it easy to add a bit more gin to dry it out. The 6:2:2:1 proportions work well, IMHO.

3 replies

Chris Brislawn

26th November 2024 at 05:49

Instead of Difford's 4:2:1:1 proportions I went for slightly drier 6:2:2:1 ratios, which was plenty sweet enough & had more L'Aero d'Or flavor. Strangely, though, I cannot find this in Craddock's Savoy Cocktail book. Might it have come from somewhere else?