Name: Froupe Cocktail
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 45 ml Cognac (brandy); 45 ml Rosso/sweet vermouth; 5 ml Bénédictine D.O.M.; 2 dash Boker's bitters

Froupe Cocktail
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Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
1 ¹⁄₂ oz	Rémy Martin V.S.O.P. cognac
1 ¹⁄₂ oz	Strucchi Rosso Vermouth
¹⁄₆ oz	Bénédictine D.O.M. liqueur
2 dash	Boker's bitters optional

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
Prepare garnish of orange zest twist.
STIR all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
EXPRESS orange zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Rosso/rouge/sweet vermouth (di Torino) - Sulphur Dioxide/Sulphites

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

A bittersweet, herbal old-school drink that's in line for rediscovery.

View readers' comments

Variant:

The Addington

History:

It transpires (many thanks to Ian Fenton for pointing this out) that what we now know as the "Froupe" cocktail was originally named "Fioupe" and the spelling change most likely came about due to a mistake in its translation from this cocktail's first known appearance in Carlo Beltramo's 1924 Carlo's Cocktail et Boissons Américaines written in French. This explains that the cocktail was named after "Mr. Fioupe", who "was, before the war, a well-known figure all along the Riviera."

Fioupe Cocktail
Prepare in a tumbler half-filled with ice cubes: equal parts of Italian vermouth and good old Cognac, 1 teaspoon of Bénédictine. - Stir well and pour into a cocktail glass with a lemon zest.

Mr. Fioupe was, before the war, a well-known figure all along the Riviera.
Carlo Beltramo, Carlo's Cocktail et Boissons Américaines, 1924 (translated from French)

This cocktail's notoriety is mostly due to its inclusion in Harry Craddock's 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book.

FROUPE COCKTAIL.
1 Teaspoon Bénédictine.
½ Italian Vermouth.
½ Brandy.
Stir well and strain into cocktail glass.
Harry Craddock, 1930

More cocktails by Harry Craddock

Nutrition:

One serving of Froupe Cocktail contains 186 calories

Alcohol content:

1.5 standard drinks
22.61% alc./vol. (22.61° proof)
21.6 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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Showing 10 of 15 comments for Froupe Cocktail.
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Jeremy Harrold

20th March at 17:35

More complex than I expected with a bitter sweet finish. I do think the bitters are more than optional.

Dave Smith

7th February at 01:58

Tastes great! I substituted licor 43 for the Benedictine.

michael Monaco

12th December 2024 at 02:12

For fun, replaced the vermouth with Gancia Americano. Very nice cocktail.

John CARR

23rd July 2024 at 13:22

Accidentally put 7.5 ml Benedictine instead of 5. The balance was thrown but the flavour was immense! And I’m a bit agnostic on Benedictine but shows what it does in the drink!

Ian Fenton

10th February 2024 at 11:57

I came back to try a Cynar variation; more of the Addington than the Froupe, but my curiosity led to this gem:
“ If you look up the word “froupe” in Dr. Johnson’s Dictionary, you’ll find it means “To dive with a sudden impetuosity. A word out of use.” But more than that, it’s a word that never existed. Dr. Johnson, having misread the word “soupe,” meaning to swoop, created a new word.” from Professor Jack Lynch.

Ian Fenton

12th July 2024 at 10:44

In a beautiful irony, I have found the “Fioupe” in the 1924 “Les Cocktails et Les Boissons Americaines”.

“Prepare in the tumbler half-filled with broken ice: Equal parts of Italian vermouth and good old Cognac, 1 teaspoon of Bénédictine. Stir well and pour into the cocktail glass with lemon zest.

Mr. Fioupe was, before the war, a very well-known figure throughout the Riviera.”

So “froupe” exists both as a word and a cocktail due to transliteration errors.

2 replies

Chris Brislawn

24th July 2023 at 03:42

Just because Craddock's customers back in the 1920's liked equal proportions doesn't mean we still have to overwhelm the cognac with vermouth. 2 oz cognac to 1 oz vermouth works fine. And I like the addition of Boker's, which Craddock could have done back then (though it's not in his book).

Ian Fenton

7th October 2022 at 10:28

I accidentally upped it to 2 shots of XO brandy and vermouth which would have reduced the sweetness a bit (only just fitted in my Nick & Nora glass though!). Also used a dash of (homemade) coffee bitters and one of orange. The result was quite delicious, complex and did seem to get better as it warmed up. I want to try it with Cynar or Dubbonet now.

Ian Fenton

25th May 2023 at 11:49

A further note, perhaps to self, is that the brandy is critical. With St Remy XO, this was fantastic. With St Remy VSOP, it’s okay.

John Hinojos

21st July 2022 at 00:12

Wonderfully balanced cocktail. I think I would consider using one of my French brandies over the cognac next time. I find the cognac is softer in flavour and some of the nuances of the cognac does get lost. But then I happen to be a bigger fan of Armagnac over Cognac for the same reason. Regardless, it is an excellent aperitif and would make again.