Name: Jabberwock
Total time: 2 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 30 ml Gin; 30 ml Fino sherry; 15 ml Blanc quinquina/kina; 15 ml Aromatized wine; 2 dash Orange bitters

Jabberwock
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Glass:

Photographed in a Retro Coupe

Ingredients:
1 fl oz	Hayman's London Dry Gin
1 fl oz	Lustau Jarana Fino Sherry
¹⁄₂ fl oz	Blanc quinquina/kina (e.g. Mattei Cap Corse, Bonal or Kina L'Aér
¹⁄₂ fl oz	Aromatized wine (e.g. Lillet Blanc)
2 dash	Orange Bitters by Angostura

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Prepare:

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

How to make:

STIR all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish:

EXPRESS lemon zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Fino sherry - Sulphur Dioxide/Sulphites

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

Mouth-puckeringly dry, this is a great aperitivo with quinine, fino sherry, gin botanicals and citrus all singing harmoniously.

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AKA: Jaberwocky

History:

Named after Lewis Carroll's Jabberwoky poem, this recipe is adapted from one in Harry Craddock's 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book which calls for a now defunct product called Caperitif. A notation accompanies Craddock's recipe, "This will made you gyre and gimble in the wabe until brillig all right, all right." Proving that be was a Lewis Carroll fan.

JABBERWOK Cocktail. *
2 Dashes Orange Bitters.
1/3 Dry Gin.
1/3 Dry Sherry.
1/3 Caperitif.
Stir well and strain into cocktail glass. Squeeze lemon peel on top.
* This will make you gyre and gimble in the wabe until brillig all right, all right.
Harry Craddock, 1930

More cocktails by Harry Craddock

Nutrition:

One serving of Jabberwock contains 137 calories

Alcohol content:

1.3 standard drinks
19.43% alc./vol. (38.86° proof)
17.6 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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Marie-Therese Straus

20th January at 06:26

We really enjoyed this fresh, dry aperitif. We used Kina L’Aéro D’Or and Lillet as well as Botanist gin and Lustau Jarana Fino Sherry. The flavours were slightly orangey, salty, and very refreshing and the whole cocktail was beautifully balanced. This will go into our regular rotation.

Chris Dimal

2nd January at 12:18

I used Cocchi Americano Bianco and it was far from puckeringly dry. Turned into an anytime drink. Nonetheless, the complexity was really good enough that I still think it's at least 4.5*. Would just Lillet Blanc be better here?

Robert Spain

13th December 2025 at 22:12

I used 1oz of Lillet and added one ice cube made with tonic water to add a quinine touch. It was disappointing at the beginning, but it evolved to be a really good cocktail. Just for the record, I love fino in my cocktails, well o er dry vermouth.

Calvin Grant

31st July 2025 at 02:36

Oh my! This one's exceptional! Used the last of the Kina L' Aero. Must get more. Beefeater, Lillet Blanc, Lustau Jarana Fino, Regans' and that magical golden airplane L' Aero d' Or.

G. M. Genovese

14th November 2024 at 12:34

Good good drink, but Amontillado is too much, too dominant, but not remotely in a bad way. Used Ford's, Cocchi Americano, Lillet Blanc, and Regan's... The aftertaste is actually sublime. I will come back to this. (14 Nov 2024, 7:32a) ... John, I saw your comment about Cocchi after I took notes. Cheers.

John CARR

24th November 2024 at 12:54

Did you have any fino to try with it GMG?

1 reply

John CARR

21st May 2024 at 11:05

We don’t have access to either of the kinas suggested, so went with 30 Cocchi Americano. Sweeter than I thought, though still dry. Tried with both Sipsmith and four pillars gin. The savoury and citrus of the four pillars made it an easy winner on this occasion, bringing out the fino mineral qualities beautifully. Yum!