Name: Treaty of Lyon
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 40 ml Scotch whisky; 20 ml Fernet liqueur; 20 ml White crème de cacao; 5 ml Peated malt whisky; 5 ml Rosso/sweet vermouth

Treaty of Lyon
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Photographed in an Urban Bar 1910 Retro Coupette 15cl

Ingredients:
1 ¹⁄₃ oz	Blended Scotch whisky
²⁄₃ oz	Fernet Branca liqueur
²⁄₃ oz	White crème de cacao liqueur
¹⁄₆ oz	Torabhaig Peated Single Malt Whisky
¹⁄₆ oz	Strucchi Rosso Vermouth

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
Prepare garnish of orange zest twist (flamed).
STIR all ingredients with ice.
STRAIN into chilled glass.
EXPRESS flamed orange zest twist over cocktail, then use as garnish.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Rosso/rouge/sweet vermouth (di Torino) - Sulphur Dioxide/Sulphites

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

Minty freshness with a hint of herbal bittersweetness run through this tasty digestivo.

View readers' comments

History:

Adapted from a recipe created and in November 2023 by A Fels, a fellow Discerning Drinker as a riff on Joe Gilmore's Savoy Corpse Reviver and shared via a comment on that cocktail's page, saying, "Modern cognac drowns here, but blended scotch creates a remarkably vibrant combination worth community exploration. Our best effort has been the Treaty of Lyon (a nod to Savoy), a drier 2/1/1 ratio of scotch, Fernet, and creme de cacao, finished with a touch of vermouth and Islay malt (flamed orange optional). A bit of fine-tuning yields a remarkable result." The Treaty of Lyon, signed 17 January 1601 between France and Savoy, brought an end to the Franco-Savoyard War, which started a year earlier.

Our attention was drawn to this recipe thanks to the input of another fellow Discerning Drinker, Simon Sedgley, in April 2025.

Nutrition:

One serving of Treaty of Lyon contains 207 calories

Alcohol content:

1.8 standard drinks
27.91% alc./vol. (27.91° proof)
25.1 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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Simon Sedgley

26th May at 13:10

One of those astonishingly unlikely recipes that turns out to be a bit of genius. Bravo to commenter A Fels.

Caspian Berggren

21st May at 18:06

It's a bit too Fernet forward. I'd scale the Fernet back to maybe 1.5cl or even 1cl.

Chris Brislawn

27th May at 02:49

On the learned counsel of C. Berggren I cut the Fernet back by 1 tsp to 1/2 oz (15 ml) and increased the blended scotch accordingly. There was no shortage of Fernet Branca influence on this surprisingly harmonious and well-balanced drink. Good call!

Andy Parnell-Hopkinson

17th May at 18:09

Pleasant if rather peculiar.

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