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Thin Pink Line

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (183)
Measurements in:
Serves:
1

How to make

Glass

Photographed in a Retro Coupe

Prepare

  1. Select and pre-chill a COUPE GLASS.

Method

  1. SHAKE first 5 ingredients with ice and strain back into shaker.
  2. DRY SHAKE (without ice) to emulsify.
  3. FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
  4. Slowly pour Creole bitters onto a spot in the centre of the cocktail. After about a minute or so, a 'Thin Pink Line' of bitters develops below the foam.

Flavour Profile

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 7/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 7/10

Health & Nutrition

Nutrition:

One serving of Thin Pink Line contains 178 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 2.3 units of alcohol
  • 15.03% alc./vol. (30.05° proof)
  • 18.5 grams of pure alcohol

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

  • Orgeat (almond) sugar syrup (2:1) — Nuts
  • Egg white (pasteurised) — Eggs
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History

Adapted from a 2015 recipe by Sean Fennelly at Milk & Honey in Soho, London, England.

Review

A subtly almond-influenced brandy sour served straight up, it is set apart by its namesake, the 'Thin Pink Line' of Peychaud's bitters, which floats on top of the cocktail but beneath the foam.

Variations/similar cocktails

Improved Japanese Cocktail

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£4.67 per cocktail*

Makes a minimum of 12 cocktails.
Tax included. Shipping calculated at checkout.

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* May not include all ingredients. Price per cocktail is an estimate based on cost of one cocktail with ingredients shown above and does not include shipping.

Media

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Comments & Discussion

T M
Dry shook everything as I did not care much about the visual appearance. Incredibly smooth drink, super balanced, maybe I will do .5 rich and .5 orgeat next time for an additional almond taste
2
Patricio González-Careaga López-Tapia
So it's 1 dash Peychaud's before shaking, plus one for garnish? 2 Dash total? Thanks :)
1
Paloma Difford
Hi Patricio, the recipe has been amended to say 'shake first 5 ingredients' not 6. Thanks for spotting this and letting us know!
0
Felicia
I always reverse shake. Dry shake doesn’t make a solid enough meringue for me. Tried dry shake and failed lol. I did get a line on one side of the glass, but also a big pink hole in the middle. It wasn’t sour or bitter enough for me either, but was indeed, very tasty. I like the transformation concept - imma keep at it.
1
michael Monaco
A very nice drink...and pretty. I like it. More importantly, my wife and her friends like it for taste and beauty.
1
Morten Carlsbaek
The "Thin Pink Line" and the "Improved Japanese Cocktail" are cousins from different cities. One born in London with egg white, the other in New York with Peychaud's Bitter - both nine years old. I better try them side by side on day soon.
2
Simon Difford
Great observation. I've added links between the two cocktails.
3
Fredie Martineau
Very clever - However I dont like having to wait 10 minutes for the thin line to appear. Personally I like to drink the cocktail cold. The amount of bitter was unpleasant for me.
1
Hendrik Schaulin
Since I did not have orgeat on hand I replaced it with yellow chartreuse M.O.F.
Also very lovely.
1
Alexandros Kordatzakis
How did you even think of doing this? What's the similarity of Orgeat with Yellow Chartreuse?
1
Hendrik Schaulin
Hello Alexandros, you are absolutely right, Orgeat and Yellow Chartreuse have nearly nothing in common. I was simply intrigued by the pink line idea and wanted to try that without shopping for Orgeat (or making it myself). The way I understand this cocktail though, at least in the recipe, the Orgeat serves as a mellow sweetener that adds body to the drink.
In all its herbal complexity Yellow Chartreuse especially the Meilleurs ouvriers de France edition is a relatively mellow herbal liqueur with good body. In that sense even a Mastika, that I also love sparingly as a cocktail sweetener might have worked.
I‘ll have to give it a try with real Orgeat sometime soon.
0
Sally Morgan
Well I wasn’t expecting that!

Not your typical brandy cocktail - well worth trying.
1
Calvin Grant
Awesome cocktail every thing about it was just right. Loved the subtle almond orgeat interplay with the Peychaud's! Having tried all (?) the recipes calling for lots of Angostura, and thoroughly enjoying, was pleasantly suprised to find this one calls for two spoons of the bitters. Really works. I used a French XO brandy.
1

Showing the first 9 of 18 comments.

Difford’s Shop logo
£4.67 per cocktail*

Makes a minimum of 12 cocktails.
Tax included. Shipping calculated at checkout.

Buy now

* May not include all ingredients. Price per cocktail is an estimate based on cost of one cocktail with ingredients shown above and does not include shipping.