Thin Pink Line

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (142 ratings)
  • Thin Pink Line Image

    Thin Pink Line

  • Jump to
Thin Pink Line image

Photographed in a Retro Coupe

Ingredients:
1 2⁄3 oz Rémy Martin V.S.O.P. cognac
2⁄3 oz Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
1⁄3 oz Monin Pure Cane Syrup (65.0°brix, equivalent to 2:1 rich syrup)
1⁄6 oz Monin Almond (Orgeat) Syrup
2⁄3 oz Egg white (pasteurised) or 3 dashes Fee Brothers Fee Foam cocktail foamer or Aquafaba or Vegan egg white alternative
1⁄3 oz Peychaud's or other Creole-style bitters
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
  2. SHAKE first 5 ingredients with ice and strain back into shaker.
  3. DRY SHAKE (without ice) to emulsify.
  4. FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
  5. 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.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

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

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 7/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 7/10
More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

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.

View readers' comments

Variant:

Improved Japanese Cocktail

History:

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

Nutrition:

One serving of Thin Pink Line contains 178 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.2 standard drinks
  • 15.03% alc./vol. (15.03° proof)
  • 17.3 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.

Le Traite des Pyrenees (The Treaty of the Pyrenees) Image
Previous cocktail

Le Traite des Pyrenees (The Treaty of the Pyrenees)

Velvet Seine Image
Next cocktail

Velvet Seine

Join the discussion

Showing 10 of 17 comments for Thin Pink Line.
See discussion in the Forum

Please log in to make a comment
Patricio González-Careaga López-Tapia’s Avatar Patricio González-Careaga López-Tapia
9th February at 08:57
So it's 1 dash Peychaud's before shaking, plus one for garnish? 2 Dash total? Thanks :)
1
reply
Paloma Difford’s Avatar Paloma Difford
9th February at 09:46
Hi Patricio, the recipe has been amended to say 'shake first 5 ingredients' not 6. Thanks for spotting this and letting us know!
0
reply
Felicia Stratton ’s Avatar Felicia Stratton
29th October 2024 at 19:15
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
reply
michael Monaco’s Avatar michael Monaco
2nd September 2024 at 22:44
A very nice drink...and pretty. I like it. More importantly, my wife and her friends like it for taste and beauty.
1
reply
Morten Carlsbaek’s Avatar Morten Carlsbaek
11th August 2024 at 10:34
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.
1
reply
Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
12th August 2024 at 07:27
Great observation. I've added links between the two cocktails.
1
reply
Fredie Martineau’s Avatar Fredie Martineau
10th June 2024 at 08:55
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
reply
Hendrik Schaulin’s Avatar Hendrik Schaulin
3rd February 2024 at 02:33
Since I did not have orgeat on hand I replaced it with yellow chartreuse M.O.F.
Also very lovely.
1
reply
Alexandros Kordatzakis’ Avatar Alexandros Kordatzakis
5th April 2024 at 13:49
How did you even think of doing this? What's the similarity of Orgeat with Yellow Chartreuse?
1
reply
1 reply
Sally Morgan’s Avatar Sally Morgan
19th January 2024 at 20:00
Well I wasn’t expecting that!

Not your typical brandy cocktail - well worth trying.
1
reply
Calvin Grant’s Avatar Calvin Grant
7th January 2024 at 03:51
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
reply
Asher Günther’s Avatar Asher Günther
12th December 2023 at 03:49
For presentation purposes it's pretty easy to simply scoop the bitters-stained foam off the top, so you get a nice clean white foam with the layer of pink underneath
2
reply
Andre Derailleur’s Avatar Andre Derailleur
30th October 2023 at 04:07
Made with Armagnac and was lovely, but better with slightly more brandy than this recipe.
2
reply
advert banner
Le Traite des Pyrenees (The Treaty of the Pyrenees) Image
Previous cocktail

Le Traite des Pyrenees (The Treaty of the Pyrenees)

Rich and flavoursome Pedro Ximénez sherry stirred with cognac bitters and delicately influenced by cigar smoke

Velvet Seine Image
Next cocktail

Velvet Seine

Reminiscent of a French Martini without the pineapple juice but with the balancing lemon sourness and an even thicker creamy foamy head thanks to the addition...

Bitters Image

Bitters

Bitters are alcoholic beverages prepared with herbs, spices, roots, fruits and peels infused in alcohol or glycerin. Popular ingredients include gentian...
Brandy Image

Brandy

Brandy is distilled from fermented fruit (not grain). The name brandy comes from northern Europe, where 'brand' means to burn, and is a reference to the...
Foams Image

Foams

Foams can be applied to the surface of a cocktail, the aroma and flavour of which usually contrast with that of the drink beneath, so adding complexity...
2 to 1 'rich' sugar syrup versus 1 to 1 'simple' syrup Image

2 to 1 'rich' sugar syrup versus 1 to 1 'simple' syrup

The balance between sweet and sour is crucial to the majority of cocktails and consistently producing balanced cocktails is made easier when using sugar...
Orgeat Image

Orgeat

Orgeat (pronounced 'Ohr-Zsa' as in Zsa Zsa Gabor - with the 't' silent), is a syrup traditionally made from almonds, sugar and rose water or orange flower...
Egg dos and don'ts & using eggs in cocktails Image

Egg dos and don'ts & using eggs in cocktails

Eggs are essentially reproductive cells from everything from chickens to ducks and quails but here I'm specifically looking at chicken eggs, their characteristics...