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 'rich' (2:1)

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

How to make

Glassware

Prepare

Select and pre-chill a COUPE GLASS.

Prepare garnish of orange zest twist.

Method

SHAKE all ingredients with ice.

FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish

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

Flavour Profile

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

Health & Nutrition

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

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Dry vermouth — Sulphur Dioxide/Sulphites

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

Comments & Discussion

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Simon Sedgley Premium Member 7w

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

CJ Grant 6w

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!

Simon Sedgley Premium Member 6w

We usually reach for the Calvados with this one but tried your base spirit split using Applejack and it was good...nice apple forward. Thanks for your tip.

CJ Grant 7w

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 1y

Very nice.

Tuber Magnatum Premium Member 1y

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 2y

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 Premium Member 2y

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 2y

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 2y

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

Doris Magnus 4y

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

John Hinojos Premium Member 5y

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.