Name: Imperial Army
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 45 ml Gin; 15 ml Lime juice; 10 ml Orgeat syrup; 6 drop Tonka bitters; 3 drop Saline solution 4:1; 22.5 ml Brut sparkling wine

Imperial Army
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Glass:

Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
1 ¹⁄₂ oz	Hayman's London Dry Gin
¹⁄₂ oz	Lime juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₃ oz	Monin Almond (Orgeat) Syrup
6 drop	Bob's Tonka Bitters optional
3 drop	Saline solution (20g sea salt to 80g water) or merest pinch of s
³⁄₄ oz	Brut champagne/sparkling wine chilled

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Prepare:

Select and pre-chill a COUPE GLASS.
Prepare garnish of lime zest twist.

How to make:

SHAKE first 5 ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
TOP with sparkling wine.

Garnish:

Express lime zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Orgeat (almond) sugar syrup (2:1) - Nuts
Brut champagne/sparkling wine - Sulphur Dioxide/Sulphites

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

An Army & Navy with a splash of brut sparkling wine, which dries the cocktail, so it benefits from a tad more orgeat than you may expect. Strike the right balance and the Imperial Army's layers of flavour are delicious.

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Variant:

Sabot
French 75
North By Northwest

History:

This vintage cocktail was apparently written about by Gustav Selmer Fougner in his Along the Wine Trail column in the New York Sun newspaper, which he wrote from 1933 until his death in 1941. So far, I've not been able to find this piece, or an original recipe, so the above is my own interpretation. I discovered this cocktail, referenced to Fougner on the menu of London's Luggage Room bar in September 2025.

Nutrition:

One serving of Imperial Army contains 148 calories

Alcohol content:

1.1 standard drinks
16.88% alc./vol. (33.77° proof)
15.7 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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Andrew Parsons

18th October 2025 at 16:32

Surely this is just an Army and Navy made long by the sparkling wine?

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Simon Difford

18th October 2025 at 22:22

Thanks for pointing out, Andrew. I've added a note above to make this clear. Army & Navy is usually with lemon, and I wonder if the above was also originally with lemon rather than lime.

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