Name: Darlington
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 40 ml Gin; 10 ml Calvados apple brandy; 10 ml Blue curaçao liqueur; 20 ml Dry vermouth; 20 ml Lemon juice; 10 ml Sugar syrup (2:1)

Darlington
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Glass:

Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
1 ¹⁄₃ fl oz	Hayman's London Dry Gin
¹⁄₃ fl oz	Calvados / apple brandy / straight applejack
¹⁄₃ fl oz	Bols Blue Curaçao
²⁄₃ fl oz	Strucchi Dry Vermouth
²⁄₃ fl oz	Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₃ fl oz	Sugar syrup 'rich' (2 sugar to 1 water, 65.0°Brix)

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Prepare:

Select and pre-chill a COUPE GLASS.
Prepare garnish of orange zest twist.

How to make:

SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish:

EXPRESS orange zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Dry vermouth - Sulphur Dioxide/Sulphites

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

Aquamarine blue, this delicately fruity gin-based cocktail is dried by a splash of vermouth and soured by lemon juice.

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History:

In William James "Billy" Tarling's 1937 Café Royal Cocktail Book (Coronation Edition), the invention of this cocktail is credited to J. B. O'Brien. Made to the proportions specified in Tarling's book, the above recipe would only have 5ml (1/6oz) sugar syrup.

DARLINGTON.
Invented by J. B. O'Brien
4/10 Booth's Gin.
1/10 Calvados, Un Trou Normand.
1/10 Blue Curaçao, Bols.
2/10 French Vermouth, Noilly Prat.
2/10 Fresh Lemon Juice.
Dash Gomme Syrup.
Shake.
William J. Tarling, Café Royal Cocktail Book, 1937

More cocktails by William "Billy" Tarling

Nutrition:

One serving of Darlington contains 177 calories

Alcohol content:

1.5 standard drinks
17.5% alc./vol. (35° proof)
20.7 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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Simon Sedgley

12th July at 13:36

For us, a good dash of grapefruit bitters woke this one up from its very pleasant slumber.

CJ Grant

11 hours ago

I tried another one, closer to specs (mainly I had to use Cocchi Americano as the dry vermouth). And it was pretty decent, but I liked my Apple Jack heavy version a little better.

But having your comment in my back pocket, I added a dash of grapefruit bitters to mine. It did seem to spackle some small holes I felt were in the cocktail - not changing it greatly, but improving it a bit. Thanks for the tip!

CJ Grant

11th July at 21:11

Ok, so I changed enough to likely make a new cocktail, but I subbed in lime juice for lemon and adjusted the ratios of the base spirits to be closer to 3:2 (vs 4:1). As such, the apple brandy really plays lead with the gin playing more accent in the back with the curaçao being more present there.

I looked for other cocktails, and I think maybe what I made is between this and a Star Daisy.

Andy Parnell-Hopkinson

10th August 2025 at 18:08

Very nice.

Tuber Magnatum

8th August 2025 at 22:16

I really enjoyed this drink and as others have said, it makes a nice summer aperitif. As I didn't have blue curaçao and couldn't rationalize buying a whole bottle, I just added a drop of blue food colouring as I was intrigued by the Difford's article "20 Best Blue Caraçao Cocktails" and his comment that "blue drinks are retro so back in vogue". While it didn't objectively change the taste, it certainly was visually interesting, and as Apicus said, "We eat with our eyes first".

Catherine Wright

17th July 2024 at 05:19

Made these again, my French friends, not used to full blown cocktails, love this recipe. Added Schweppes Tonic water as a spritz. Great summer drink and looks lovely. Schweppes Tonic water has reduced the sugar and the quinine. Much better taste and more subtle.

John Hinojos

18th June 2024 at 01:09

Having again after three years. Just as wonderful as we remembered. Went perfectly as an aperitif with fresh vegetables and a mild goat cheese.

Catherine Wright

17th May 2024 at 16:25

I added the syrup slowly and and added another 1cl of curacao. A little bland at first and the syrup helped open up the cocktail. Would also consider added half of everything again to get more for 2 cocktails. Light and easy and could be dangerous with more than one!

Dávid Ugróczi

28th September 2023 at 21:01

Used around 7.5 ml agave syrup in place of the sugar.
Very tasty, would (and probably will) make again.

Doris Magnus

24th January 2022 at 00:11

Appealing to the eye, a little sweet even with the lemon taking down the sweetness. Still an enjoyable sip!

John Hinojos

3rd June 2021 at 23:21

Great colour. Makes a wonderful sipping or aperitif. As per personal taste, we used half of the sugar syrup. We like our cocktails a bit on the sour side. Would recommend.