Name: King's Jubilee
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 40 ml Light white rum; 15 ml Maraschino liqueur; 10 ml Lemon juice

Ingredients

1 ¹⁄₃ fl oz

Light white rum (charcoal-filtered 1-4 years old)

¹⁄₂ fl oz

Luxardo Maraschino liqueur

¹⁄₃ fl oz

Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)

Flavour Profile

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

Health & Nutrition

Nutrition:

One serving of King's Jubilee contains 120 calories

Alcohol content:

1.2 standard drinks
23.53% alc./vol. (47.06° proof)
16.4 grams of pure alcohol

History

Created in 1935 to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of King George V by Harry Craddock, then head bartender of The American Bar at London's The Savoy Hotel. Craddock was also President of the United Kingdom Bartenders' Guild and this cocktail appears in the U.K.B.G. Approved Cocktails book published in 1937, as well as William James "Billy" Tarling's Cafe Royal Cocktail Book – Coronation Edition, published the same year.

Tarling was also in the top echelon of the Guild and the royalties of his book were equally divided between the U.K.B.G. Sickness Benefit Fund and The Café Royal Sports Club Fund.

KING'S JUBILEE.
Invented by Harry Craddock.
25% Lemon Juice.
25% Luxardo's Maraschino (Dry).
50% Bacardi Rum.
Shake and strain into cocktail glass.

Approved Cocktails by The United Kingdom Bartender's Guild, 1937

KING'S JUBILEE
Invented by Harry Craddock
¼ Lemon Juice.
¼ Luxardo's Maraschino (Dry).
½ Daiquiri Rum.
Shake and strain into cocktail glass.

W. J. Tarling, 1937

Review

If there is such a thing as a 'Rum Aviation', then this is surely it.

The proportions of the original 1935 recipe stipulate equal amounts of maraschino and lemon juice but even my recipe with a third less lemon is on the tart side. Don't be tempted to drop the cherry garnish into the drink or both appearance and balance will be muddied. Skewer the cherry and reserve for a sweet treat at the end.

My original take on this classic (up until July 2020) was 60ml light rum, 22.5ml maraschino liqueur and 15ml lemon juice but this packs a whopping 80ml of alcohol. The above recipe scales this back by a third to still pack a double shot punch, but in a drink that hopefully won't be a killer blow to the night.

Comments & Discussion

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Matt J 20w

This is an intense cocktail for the discerning drinker. Subtly complex and deep. I used what I had (Planteray/Plantation dark rum) and found it to be an interesting and wonderful experience. Not an everyday or regular cocktail for me but when you have the necessary ingredients I can highly recommend at least giving it a go. Don’t skip on the garnish.

Annabelle Egginton 1y

Nice with a 49 proof agricole French white rhum.

Matheus Martins 1y

Swap the rum for cachaça and you'll have an amazing drink too

Peter M Premium Member 2y

Like Jose Cruz said, Luxardo Maraschino liqueur seems to bury the rum (Plantation 3 Stars in my case). Might try this again with more rum or less liqueur... (An extra 5 ml of rum helped, but need to play around with it more...) @Simon, I wonder if there's a particular rum that you'd recommend for this cocktail?

Simon Difford Verified User Premium Member 2y

I use my own 50:50 blend of Bacardi Limited Edition Heritage (44.5% alc./vol.) and Bacardi Carta Blanca (37.5% alc./vol.).

Jose Cruz 2y

Luxardo dominates, not much complexity, subtle rum.

Andrew Scurr 3y

I am never sure why searching for “King’s” or even the full name doesn’t find this (not even as an option) only if you search for “Jubilee” does it come up?

Simon Difford Verified User Premium Member 3y

Not all apostrophes are created equal and so can cause an issue with our site search. However, I've added an alias so cocktail should now display when you search for "Kings Jubilee" - hopefully with or without an apostrophe.

Miguel Perales Premium Member 4y

Really liked this cocktail. Easy to drink and great balance. Glad you adjusted the lemon juice because the level of sourness was perfect.

John Hinojos Premium Member 5y

Outstanding. Subtle taste of the rum and perfectly balanced. Would do again. Here, simple works great. Classic.

Tom W 5y

I quite liked this simple, Old School cocktail, just not sure I will revisit it soon.

David M. Premium Member 5y

The King’s Jubilee was an early cocktail exploration after I got my first bottle of Maraschino. This may be the drink that linked me to Difford’s for a recipe for the first time. Still tasty. And saving the cherry for the end was indeed a sweet treat!