Debonair

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (15 ratings)

Serve in a Martini glass

Ingredients:
2 oz Speyside single malt Scotch whisky
56 oz Ginger liqueur
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill a Martini glass.
  2. Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist.
  3. STIR all ingredients with ice.
  4. FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
  5. EXPRESS lemon zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 9/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 5/10

Review:

Rich and indeed sophisticated, this Scotch-based drink has a zing of ginger spice with a zest of citrus from the garnish.

View readers' comments

History:

Created in the 1990s by Gary "gaz" Regan who in his San Francisco Chronicle 'The Cocktailian' column wrote of this drink, "I gave the formula a series of silly names, and eventually I got really frustrated with it so I looked up "sophisticated" in Roget's Thesaurus.. The Debonair was born."

Alcohol content:

  • 1.7 standard drinks
  • 27.33% alc./vol. (27.33° proof)
  • 23.2 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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G. M. Genovese’s Avatar G. M. Genovese
26th April at 20:22
No Speyside on hand. Made this with McConnell's Irish Whiskey and Barrow's Intense Ginger. Not too bad of a combo, but leaves me wanting to try with a more bolder whiskey. Did make it again, cutting the whiskey to 50 ml while adding a 5 ml 'rinse' of Laphroaig to the glass. That did it for me. Just gotta replace the Irish with the Scotch next time.
John Hinojos’ Avatar John Hinojos
18th March 2024 at 03:40
Very nice after-dinner cocktail. A bit sweet and would reduce the Ginger Liqueur to 15ml. Use a good Scotch Whisky.
Yorey C’s Avatar Yorey C
13th February at 05:05
agreed, definitely needs a pungent potent distinctive whisky, as called for. i used a mid-shelf kirkland and its very bland