Name: Comet Cocktail
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 45 ml Cognac (brandy); 7.5 ml Triple sec; 7.5 ml Honey herbal liqueur; 30 ml Pink grapefruit juice; 5 ml Sugar syrup (2:1); 1 dash Aromatic bitters

Comet Cocktail
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Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
1 ¹⁄₂ oz	Rémy Martin V.S.O.P. cognac
¹⁄₄ oz	Cointreau triple sec liqueur
¹⁄₄ oz	Honey herbal liqueur (e.g. Drambuie)
1 oz	Pink grapefruit juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₆ oz	Monin Pure Cane Syrup (65.0°brix, equivalent to 2:1 rich syrup)
1 dash	Angostura Aromatic Bitters

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

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

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

This riff on the Sidecar is lighter, less tart, and altogether more approachable than the original, but some may find it lacks the original's cleansing zesty bite.

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History:

Created in 1952 by Eddie "King Cocktail" Clarke at the Albany Club, Albermarle Street, London, England. Made to honour the first-ever jet aircraft to fly a commercial route. The de Havilland DH 106 Comet was developed and manufactured by de Havilland at its Hatfield Aerodrome, Hertfordshire, England. The Comet 1 prototype, registered G-ALYP ("Yoke Peter") first flew on 27th July 1949. This same aircraft, on 2nd May 1952 took off from London bound for Johannesburg on a scheduled BOAC service as the world's first jetliner flight with fare-paying passengers.

Eddie Clarke's original recipe called for Van der Hum, a South African orange liqueur, undoubtedly selected by Eddie due to the destination of that inaugural flight. The use of equal parts triple sec and Drambuie is an accepted substitution but leaves this cocktail on the bitter side, hence I've added a spoon of sugar syrup.

Nutrition:

One serving of Comet Cocktail contains 171 calories

Alcohol content:

1.3 standard drinks
18.63% alc./vol. (18.63° proof)
17.7 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 5 comments for Comet Cocktail.
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Jonathan Stephens

28th February 2023 at 22:49

Didn’t seem to add up to sum of its parts for me. Might try Drambuie in a regular sidecar though.

John Hinojos

9th November 2021 at 00:48

It was very, very good. Like the lift the grapefruit gives the cocktail. Since our grapefruits are tree ripened and tend to be a bit sweeter, we left out the sugar syrup.

Calvin Grant

8th November 2021 at 02:34

This is really good with white grapefruit juice. Were pink grapefruits available in '52?

John Hinojos

9th November 2021 at 00:46

Yes, the ruby red grapefruit was patented in 1929.

Lorenzo Thayn

13th January 2021 at 01:48

Isn't this supposed to be a dash of bitters not an ounce?

Simon Difford

13th January 2021 at 08:28

Whoops! Thanks for letting me know Lorenzo. Selecting "1 shot" rather than "1 dash" when uploading recipes is a mistake I've made a few too many times. Now fixed.

Sally Morgan

29th November 2020 at 19:43

I found this on the bitter side, so upped the drambuie to 10ml and that was more balanced for me

Simon Difford

1st December 2020 at 21:13

Agreed Sally. I tried 10ml Drambuie but seemed to dominate so I added the tried and trusted "spoon full of sugar." One day I hope to try the original recipe with an old bottle of Van der Hum.

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