Serve in a Nick & Nora glass
1 swath | Lemon peel |
1 2⁄3 oz | Hayman's London Dry Gin |
1⁄6 oz | Gomme syrup |
0.08 oz | Luxardo Maraschino liqueur |
2 dash | Boker's bitters |
1 dash | La Fée Parisienne absinthe |
Fabulously complex and spirit-forward. A delicious cocktail on which to sip and contemplate. Some may want to stir this cocktail but it's better shaken. Expressing lemon oils over the surface enhances the aroma and clears the bubble slick produced by shaking.
The Gin Cocktail first appears in Jerry "The Professor" Thomas' 1862 The Bar-Tender's Guide & Bon Vivant's Companion with this "Improved" version debuting in his 1876 The Bar-Tender's Guide 2nd Edition. This also includes "Improved" versions of the Brandy Cocktail, and Whiskey Cocktail, which are all what we today call Old Fashioned cocktails. In the words of Jerry Thomas, they have been "improved by moistening the edge of the cocktail glass with a piece of lemon." Such "improved" American cocktails from the period are also distinguished by using European ingredients, particularly maraschino liqueur and/or absinthe.
111. Gin Cocktail.
Jerry Thomas, The Bar-tender's Guide, 1876
(Use small bar glass.)
3 or 4 dashes of gum syrup.
2 do. Bitters (Bogart's).
1 wine-glass of gin.
1 or 2 dashes of Curaçao.
1 small piece lemon peel; fill one-third full of fine ice
shake well, and strain in a glass.
243. Improved Gin Cocktail.
Use the same method and ingredients as in No. 241 substituting gin for the brandy.
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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