21st Century (Difford's recipe)

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (49 ratings)
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    21st Century (Difford's recipe)

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21st Century (Difford's recipe) image

Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
1 1⁄2 oz Patrón Reposado tequila
5⁄6 oz Dutch Cacao white crème de cacao
2⁄3 oz Aromatized wine (e.g. Lillet Blanc)
1⁄6 oz Blanc quinquina/kina (e.g. Mattei Cap Corse, Bonal or Kina L'Aér
1⁄6 oz Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
  2. Prepare garnish of orange zest twist.
  3. SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
  4. FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
  5. EXPRESS orange zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

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
Cocktail of the day:

24th March 2025 is Cocktail Day

Review:

I revisited this cocktail in December 2022 when Jim Meehan made me aware of his, original 21st Century and I changed from Joerg Meyer's 20th Century spec to a recipe based on my favoured Twentieth Century (but with tequila as the base), the key difference being the aromatised wine used. For the record, the previous recipe on this page (without "Difford's recipe" in the title) comprised:
50 ml Reposado tequila
30 ml White crème de cacao
30 ml Cocchi Americano Bianco
10 ml Lemon juice

I also retested my preference for reposado rather than blanco tequila but I still favour the rounding effect of reposado in this cocktail.

View readers' comments

History:

I discovered the 21st Century, a tequila-based 20th Century Cocktail during Lockdown, in time for the 16th edition of our book. Regrettably, I didn't record where online I found it but it was only in December 2022 when I learnt, from the creator himself, that Jim Meehan created the tequila-based 21st Century Cocktail back in 2007 during his tenure at Manhattan's famous Pegu Club. A time before tequila's rise in popularity and before aromatised wines such as Cocchi Americano were imported into the USA.

More cocktails by Simon Difford

Nutrition:

One serving of 21st Century (Difford's recipe) contains 205 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.5 standard drinks
  • 20.89% alc./vol. (20.89° proof)
  • 20.9 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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Showing 8 comments for 21st Century (Difford's recipe).
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John CARR’s Avatar John CARR
8th March at 12:39
Profound depth of flavour. A modern classic, although one must have an appreciation for vegetal and savoury flavours, which are very much in evidence here.
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Chris Brislawn’s Avatar Chris Brislawn
24th May 2023 at 03:44
We like Simon's anise-free approach, which hews closer to the 20th Century cocktail, but are confused by the use of BOTH Lillet Blanc and "Kina aromatised wine" (type unspecified). I've gotten very good results using 1.75 oz reposado (blanco tequila would also work), 0.25 oz lemon juice, 0.75 oz creme de cacao, and 0.75 oz either Cocchi Americano Bianco or Luxardo Bitter Bianco, garnished with a lemon twist. I also add 2 dashes Fee Bros. celery bitters. Sweet enough, but complex.
0
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Herbert Brant’s Avatar Herbert Brant
12th January 2023 at 22:21
Exceptional! Amazing combination of rich flavors, sour and sweet. I'll be making this one of my signature cocktails.
1
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John Hinojos’ Avatar John Hinojos
9th August 2022 at 03:39
What a perfect after dinner drink. Wonderful blends of tastes. Nice hint of cocoa, but not overpowering.
2
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Stephan Gröhn’s Avatar Stephan Gröhn
16th April 2022 at 19:09
Very good also with Calle 23 Anejo and Cap Corse Quinquina blanc!
1
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Derwood Fiddlesticks’ Avatar Derwood Fiddlesticks
26th July 2021 at 01:56
Made using Anejo Tequila and Lillet - fantastic!
1
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STEVEN JEPSON’s Avatar STEVEN JEPSON
17th January 2021 at 17:21
I went with what I have: Arette Anejo Tequila and Lillet Blanc. This will now become a firm favourite. Smooth, powerful with the cacao coming through in the after taste.
2
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Sally Morgan’s Avatar Sally Morgan
2nd January 2021 at 20:18
Perfectly balanced and sophisticated. Very much unlike myself.
5
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