Name: Button Hook
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 60 ml Cognac (brandy); 10 ml White crème de menthe; 10 ml Apricot liqueur; 10 ml Cynar/carciofo amaro; 2 dash Absinthe

Button Hook
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Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
2 oz	Rémy Martin V.S.O.P. cognac
¹⁄₃ oz	Giffard Menthe Pastille white crème de menthe
¹⁄₃ oz	Luxardo Apricot Albicocca Liqueur
¹⁄₃ oz	Cynar or other carciofo amaro
2 dash	La Fée Parisienne absinthe

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
STIR all ingredients with ice.
STRAIN into chilled glass.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

Brandy-led with supporting and influential crème de menthe and apricot brandy, freshened and rounded by absinthe and carciofo amaro.

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History:

Adapted from recipes in Hugo R. Ensslin's 1917 Recipes for Mixed Drinks (2nd Edition) (It may have also appeared in his 1916 first edition) and Crosby Gaige's 1944 The Standard Cocktail Guide by Jason E. Clapham in 2013. The original recipe specifies equal parts and omits Clapham's all-important addition of Cynar.

BUTTON HOOK COCKTAIL
¼ White Crème de Menthe
¼ Apricot Brandy
¼ Absinthe
¼ Brandy
Shake well in a mixing glass with cracked ice, strain and serve in a wine glass.
Hugo R. Ensslin, Recipes for Mixed Drinks, 1917

BUTTON HOOK COCKTAIL
1/2 ounce Crème de Menthe (White)
1/2 ounce Apricot Brandy
1/2 ounce Absinthe Substitute
1/2 ounce Brandy
Shake well with cracked ice.
Crosby Gaige, The Standard Cocktail Guide, 1944

More cocktails by Jason E. Clapham

Nutrition:

One serving of Button Hook contains 201 calories

Alcohol content:

1.8 standard drinks
27.35% alc./vol. (27.35° proof)
24.8 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 4 comments for Button Hook.
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Caspian Berggren

10th March at 17:34

Didn't have white mint liqueur so I used De Kuyper's Green. The colour is a little weird flavorwise it works. Really fascinating flavor profile. Up front you get apricot and some mint. On the mid palate it's almost like it oscillates between minty freshness and brandy oak between every sip. The Cynar is the most prominent on the finish by drying it all up. Maybe not a go-to cocktail but it really shows the power of dashes and flavor accents and recommended to try at least once.

John CARR

8th October 2024 at 12:48

Interesting combination. Choice of ingredients especially the creme de menthe could well influence the outcome. I had minttu which didn’t interact happily with the Cynar and cognac. But haven’t written this one off yet. The inclusion of Cynar is a small act of genius.

Barbara Nombalais

2nd December 2023 at 04:29

Perfect after dinner drink. That little touch of white creme de menthe (Tempus Fugit) gave it a nice lift and the apricot liqueur (homemade) complemented the cognac so well.

G. M. Genovese

25th November 2023 at 06:09

Interesting drink for sure. The mint seems to be the featured flavor here with the other ingredients providing subtle highlights around the palate. As I'd suspected, bourbon works great as a sub for the cognac/brandy. I tried this twice, using cognac then bourbon, and preferred the latter, though the individual elements shine brighter in the former.