Name: Charlie Chaplin Cocktail
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 22.5 ml Apricot liqueur; 22.5 ml Sloe gin liqueur; 22.5 ml Lime juice; 10 ml Chilled water

Charlie Chaplin Cocktail
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Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
³⁄₄ oz	Luxardo Apricot Albicocca Liqueur
³⁄₄ oz	Hayman's Sloe Gin
³⁄₄ oz	Lime juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₃ oz	Chilled water omit if using wet ice

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
Prepare garnish of apricot wedge.
SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
Garnish with apricot wedge on rim.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Cocktail of the day:

16th April 2025 is Charlie Chaplin's birthday

Review:

Dilution is key to this fruity sweet 'n' sour cocktail, hence, depending on your ice, the Charlie Chaplin may benefit from the addition of a splash of water prior to shaking.

View readers' comments

Variant:

Right Charlie

History:

Created and originally served at New York's old Waldorf-Astoria prior to 1920. This recipe is adapted from Albert Stevens Crockett's 1935 The Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book. The drink is named after Sir Charles Spencer 'Charlie' Chaplin (1889-1977), the English slapstick comic actor of the silent film era, who was at the height of his career when this eponymous cocktail was created.

CHARLIE CHAPLIN
One-third Lime Juice
One-third Sloe Gin
One-third Apricot Brandy
Albert Stevens Crockett, 1935

More cocktails by Albert Stevens Crockett

Nutrition:

One serving of Charlie Chaplin Cocktail contains 103 calories

Alcohol content:

0.7 standard drinks
11.95% alc./vol. (11.95° proof)
9.3 grams of pure alcohol

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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 14 comments for Charlie Chaplin Cocktail.
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Walter Brookbank

16th April at 18:34

I love this drink, tart and sour but the sloe gin adds a touch of sweetness to it, nicely balanced but next time I will do 1 oz each instead of 3/4 oz to last a little longer. I do a hard shake for 60 times to get the necessary dilution. Happy Birthday Charlie!

8th October 2024 at 01:23

Delightful! The tartness was a giggly surprise. Perhaps a bit too tart but this could be on the lime, however nothing to take umbrage over. Gave me the snap up from your sip and exclaim “that’s good” reaction, which is always a joy to have. Love vintage/classics so while it was tasty, zippy and generally delightful it was also nice to make something our fore-tenders did decades ago.

John CARR

22nd June 2024 at 13:46

Wow! 🤩. The flavours work brilliantly together. Fresh and zingy and lovely. Need to watch the lime, depending on your fruit. Final quantity was quite small, better suited to a Nick & Nora.

John CARR

22nd June 2024 at 13:29

Note: I assume this is actually a stirred cocktail?

John CARR

22nd June 2024 at 13:30

Review and instructions don’t match.

1 reply

Marie-Therese Straus

18th April 2024 at 05:05

For some reason, I was expecting this to fall on the sweet or even cloying side of the cocktail equation but this is zesty and bright and perfect for a warm spring evening. The Luxardo Albicocca is just fantastic here-so fragrant and faintly nutty; it really helps to round out the cocktail and keep it from seeming too tart.

Jack Reid

6th December 2023 at 06:05

Luxardo Albicocca & Hayman's. Made this and the Right Charlie. This tasted slightly more tart and the gin showed through more. My wife preferred this version but I preferred the Right Charlie. Either way, they are both very good drinks.

jason keane

3rd September 2023 at 07:24

I still say this is the best ever. I recently obtained a bottle of mulberry gin- looking forward to trying that as a variant.

David De Souza

12th May 2023 at 07:49

This works really well with a red grape gin - I used grenache gin.

Miguel Perales

14th November 2022 at 22:28

Great cocktail. Sloe Gin upfront with a nice citrus tartness that is not overpowering mid palate. Apricot is very subtle towards the end.
I used a Nick and Nora glass for a fuller presentation.

Walter Brookbank

6th May 2022 at 12:39

Fabulous cocktail, nice and tart, I used Hofland Sloe Gin and Drillaud Apricot Liqueur. One of my favorites!

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