Claridge Cocktail

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (72 ratings)
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    Claridge Cocktail

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Claridge Cocktail image

Serve in a Nick & Nora glass

Ingredients:
1 oz Hayman's London Dry Gin
1 oz Strucchi Dry Vermouth
1⁄3 oz Cointreau triple sec liqueur
1⁄3 oz Luxardo Apricot Albicocca Liqueur
3 drop Saline solution 4:1 (20g sea salt to 80g water)
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill a Nick & Nora glass.
  2. Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist.
  3. SHAKE or STIR all ingredients with ice.
  4. STRAIN into chilled glass.
  5. EXPRESS lemon zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 8/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 7/10
More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

Gin for strength, vermouth for dryness and liqueur to sweeten - a balanced combination.

View readers' comments

Variant:

Identical to the Frankenjack Cocktail, another classic featured in Craddock's 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book.

History:

This cocktail is first published in Harry McElhone's 1922 book Harry's ABC of Mixing Cocktails where the recipe is credited to "Leon, Bartender, Claridge's Hotel, Champs-Elysées, Paris." The recipe is repeated in Harry Craddock's 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book.

Claridge Cocktail.
1/3 French vermouth, 1/3 Gin, 1/6 Apricot Brandy, 1/6 Cointreau.
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.
(Recipe by Leon, Bartender, Claridge's Hotel, Champs-Elysées, Paris.

Harry McElhone, Harry's ABC of Mixing Cocktails, 1922

CLARIDGE COCKTAIL.
1/3 Dry Gin.
1/3 French Vermouth.
1/6 Apricot Brandy.
1/6 Cointreau.
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

Harry Craddock, The Savoy Cocktail Book, 1930

Nutrition:

One serving of Claridge Cocktail contains 146 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.3 standard drinks
  • 22.74% alc./vol. (22.74° proof)
  • 18.2 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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Stephen Broughall’s Avatar Stephen Broughall
8th January at 00:56
Made from the recipe in your book and then noticed the changes here online: you have decreased the gin and vermouth and increased slightly the other ingredients. I will try again with this online version, and interested in the salt added. Also, nick & nora glass change is a good idea. The book version is a bit boozy.
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Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
8th January at 07:03
Yes, much improved! This is the recipe in the 18th edition of our book.
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1 reply
Max Pelui’s Avatar Max Pelui
31st October 2024 at 19:08
As ever one of many Diffordians without *all* the ingredients! Made one last night subbing the Apricot for home made Plum Brandy and it was indeed rather nice. But tonight a repeat, however, this time with some very pleasant Walnut liqueur I picked up in Grenoble over the summer and it makes for a rather lovely sipper for sure.
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Darren Companion’s Avatar Darren Companion
30th October 2024 at 17:32
A nice light drink which initially reminded us of an Alaskan cocktail, albeit much less intense. A good addition to our go-to cocktail list!
1
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Cassandra Adams’ Avatar Cassandra Adams
27th October 2024 at 19:46
Made a variation on this with cherry brandy liqueur and blood orange gin. Probably could have dropped the cherry liqueur to 7.5 ml, but otherwise an enjoyably balanced drink.
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Leon Camfield’s Avatar Leon Camfield
22nd September 2024 at 20:49
Nicer than I thought it would be. Dangerously close to the wash line though, carrying this up the stairs to bed was fraught with danger
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Jeremy Harrold’s Avatar Jeremy Harrold
14th September 2023 at 05:51
A fresh, fruit laced cocktail with a touch of complexity to make it not ‘just’ a simple fruit drink. Just what he intended I would suspect!
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Luca Viviani’s Avatar Luca Viviani
29th May 2023 at 11:50
Having found the original 2:2:1:1 recipe on several books, I tried those proportions. While the flavour is delicious, it is indeed too sweet. I should know by now that I had better trust Simon’s adaptations! Will try again with the 3:3:1:1 ratio.
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Dommie coolvax’s Avatar Dommie coolvax
10th June 2022 at 19:52
I keep coming back to this. I stir
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E V’s Avatar E V
21st May 2022 at 10:56
Any reason this cocktail warrants shaking? With these components, a stir works fine.
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Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
23rd May 2022 at 19:56
No reason other than Harry Craddock stipulating to shake. I've just tried both versions alongside each other and apart from the initial appearance (the shaken version soon clears), there is little to distinguish them. Modern bartending convention may dictate to stir but I'll continue to follow Craddock's instructions. That said, I've amended the above recipe to say shake or stir. As you say, stirring works just fine.
1
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Andy Parnell-Hopkinson’s Avatar Andy Parnell-Hopkinson
20th May 2022 at 21:18
Not as sweet as I'd feared. Delicious.
1
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