Name: Bicycle Thief
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 30 ml Gin; 30 ml Red bitter liqueur; 45 ml Pink grapefruit juice; 15 ml Lemon juice; 10 ml Sugar syrup (2:1); 45 ml Soda (club soda) water

Bicycle Thief
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Glass:

Photographed in an UB Koto Collins 35cl

Ingredients:
1 fl oz	Hayman's London Dry Gin
1 fl oz	Italian red bitter liqueur
1 ¹⁄₂ fl oz	Pink grapefruit juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₂ fl oz	Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₃ fl oz	Sugar syrup 'rich' (2 sugar to 1 water, 65.0°Brix)
1 ¹⁄₂ fl oz	Thomas Henry Soda Water chilled

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Prepare:

Select and pre-chill a COLLINS GLASS.
Prepare garnish of orange slice wheel.

How to make:

SHAKE first 5 ingredients with ice.
STRAIN into ice-filled glass whilst also pouring soda.

Garnish:

Garnish with orange slice wheel.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

Bittersweet and sour with gin-laced botanicals, cleansing zesty citrus and an enlivening splash of soda.

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AKA: Tarzan

History:

Adapted from a recipe created by Zachary Gelnaw-Rubin in collaboration with fellow bartender Abraham Hawkins at Dutch Kills in New York City. Named after the 1948 Italian neorealist drama film Bicycle Thieves (Italian: Ladri di biciclette), directed by Vittorio De Sica. This cocktail was first published in the 2016 book Regarding Cocktails.

More cocktails by Zachary Gelnaw-Rubin

Nutrition:

One serving of Bicycle Thief contains 190 calories

Alcohol content:

1.1 standard drinks
8.34% alc./vol. (16.69° proof)
15.7 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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Showing 4 comments for Bicycle Thief.
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Max Langer

5th June at 13:11

Absolutely terrific cocktail, made it with grapefruit superjuice for the bite and thus felt no need for the lemon and sugar syrup. New brunch favourite (or favourite period).

Susan Williams

28th May at 22:15

Would love to try this but can’t justify purchasing a real pink grapefruit at the exorbitant price today. Has anyone tried cheating with a pink grapefruit mixer (Fever Tree, eg) instead of juice + club soda?

Toby James

26th May at 20:24

Drank this on my front step, sun sinking beyond the North Ken skyline, the last of its heat still lingering in the pavement beneath my bare feet.

That whole thing together, 5 stars; change any one of those elements, no guarantees but probably worth a try.

Diane Hig

25th May at 22:32

Having just finished a bike ride, this one caught my eye. Sadly, I had no grapefruit juice, but had just bought grapefruit soda, so I used that in place of the real juice and soda. I tripled the recipe for 2 people, because more is usually better. Used Aperol and a dry gin, and yummy. Definitely goes down easy, no strong alcohol taste at all, this is something my daughter would like, I have no doubt. And it is a gorgeous orange color.

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