Puritan

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (100 ratings)

Glass:

Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
1 23 fl oz Hayman's London Dry Gin
12 fl oz Strucchi Dry Vermouth
13 fl oz Yellow Chartreuse (or génépy liqueur)
13 fl oz Chilled water omit if using wet ice
1 dash Orange Bitters by Angostura
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Prepare:

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

How to make:

  1. STIR all ingredients with ice.
  2. STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish:

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

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 9/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 7/10

Review:

Gin contributes botanical strength, vermouth enhances the aromatics, while Chartreuse adds sweet herbal complexity.

View readers' comments

Variations/similar cocktails:

The Green Puritan (made with Green rather than Yellow Chartreuse).

History:

An often-overlooked 19th-century cocktail which first appears in Frederic Lawrence Knowles' 1900 The Cocktail Book: A Sideboard Manual for Gentlemen

Puritan Cocktail.
Use Mixing Glass.
THREE dashes orange bitters; one spoonful yellow chartreuse; two-thirds Plymouth gin; one-third French vermouth. Fill with ice, mix, and strain into a cocktail glass.

Frederic Lawrence Knowles, The Cocktail Book - A Sideboard Manual for Gentlemen, 1900

Nutrition:

One serving of Puritan contains 163 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.6 standard drinks
  • 25.55% alc./vol. (51.11° proof)
  • 21.8 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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Shawn Clark’s Avatar Shawn Clark
22nd April at 04:33
Per Yarm's site, the first recipe of this cocktail was in 1900 "The Cocktail Book: A Sideboard Manual for Gentlemen" by Fredrick L. Knowles. Checking, I find it on p. 21. Oddly, it doesn't show up in much else that I have checked for several more decades other than Kokuteera (1924), and Swallows by Boothby in 1930. Maybe I missed finding it in others in between?
Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
15 hours ago
Once again, many thanks for the heads-up. I've added the quote from A Sideboard Manual for Gentlemen above.
Calvin Grant’s Avatar Calvin Grant
3rd March at 01:46
Very tasty with Génépy.
James Kittock’s Avatar James Kittock
27th November 2025 at 02:08
Made tonight w 1 1/2 oz The Botanist, fat 1/4 oz Dolin Dry, 1/4 oz Chartreuse Yellow, 2 dashes Scrappy’s orange bitters. Expressed Meyer lemon twist and dropped in the drink. Definitely one of my favorite martinis. Not too sweet but more interesting than just gin & vermouth.
Jeremy Harrold’s Avatar Jeremy Harrold
14th September 2025 at 15:53
A punchy Martini variation. If you are a slow drinker, initially only a little Chartreuse and a touch of orange bitters but towards the end the Chartreuse kicks in. The Green Puritan is next!
Yorey C’s Avatar Yorey C
11th February 2024 at 07:55
Gordon's | Pergote | Iris Liquer ... used some iris liquer cuz someone said it's a good sub for chartreuse. they didn't specify which, and i wouldn't know. care for this about the same as i care for most martinis with mediocre gin, which is to say not much
John Hinojos’ Avatar John Hinojos
4th January 2023 at 01:28
The gin you use will impact the flavour of the cocktail. Used a locally made gin and the taste of the gin did get enhanced by the vermouth and chartreuse. Enjoyed very much.
Pekka Savolainen’s Avatar Pekka Savolainen
16th May 2022 at 14:02
Reduced gin to 40ml and it became 5 star cocktail for me.
Peter Shaw’s Avatar Peter Shaw
7th August 2021 at 06:19
The touch of colour, herbal flavours and aroma from the yellow chartreuse makes a perfect combination to introduce a reluctant friend to the martini concept.
Jonathan Bonsey’s Avatar Jonathan Bonsey
20th May 2021 at 11:48
I fell across this looking for a Gibson recipe as we ran out of lemons. In deep shock I was looking for a gin cocktail that didn’t need lemons and this caught my eye as fortunately we have oranges. It is superb. Chartreuse is not given enough credit. It’s a wonderful spirit.
Matthew French’s Avatar Matthew French
3rd May 2021 at 22:10
Both this and the Green Puritan are delicious . However, as is my wont, I had to tinker with this, especially after receiving a bottle of Cuckoo Solace Gin which includes olives amongst its botanicals. So I swapped the orange bitters for olive bitters and garnished with a Gordal olive. It worked for me, and I call it a Lapsed Catholic, (Dirty Puritan seemed a bit too obvious!).