Name: White Lion
Total time: 5 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 3 twist Lime zest (peel); 3 barspoon Powdered sugar; 20 ml Lime juice; 45 ml Light gold rum 1-3yo; 15 ml Orange Curaçao; 5 ml Raspberry syrup; 1 dash Aromatic bitters

White Lion
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Photographed in an UB 1910 Old Fashioned 10.5oz

Ingredients:
3 twist	Lime zest (peel)
3 barspoon	Powdered sugar (white sugar ground in mortar and pestle) or use 5ml of 2:1 sugar syrup per spoon
²⁄₃ oz	Lime juice (freshly squeezed)
1 ¹⁄₂ oz	Light gold rum (1-3 year old molasses column)
¹⁄₂ oz	Orange Curaçao liqueur
¹⁄₆ oz	Raspberry (framboise) sugar syrup
1 dash	Angostura Aromatic Bitters

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select a Double old-fashioned glass.
Prepare garnish of mint sprigs and seasonal berries..
REGAL SHAKE all ingredients (including lime zest).
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
Garnish with mint sprigs bouquet and berries.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

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History:

Adapted from the first-known appearance of this recipe in Jerry Thomas' 1862 The Bar-tenders Guide and then repeated in his 1876 and 1887 editions. Jerry Thomas original recipe is for a built drink which does not call for Angostura Bitters. The White Lion first becomes a shaken drink with the addition of Angostura in Jacques Straub's 1913 Straub's Manual of Mixed Drinks (which stipulates 3 dashes Angostura Bitters and 3 dashes raspberry syrup).

Similar White Lion recipes to Jerry Thomas' specification appear in Leo Engel's 1878 American and Other Drinks and Harry Johnson's 1882 and 1888 Harry Johnson's Bartender's Manual, his 1888 edition with the added note "This drink is known for a great number of years in South America." [sic]

This cocktail also features in O.H. Byron's 1884 The Modern Bartender's Guide, George Kappeler's 1895 Modern American Drinks, and then morphs into a quite different White Lion in David Embury's 1948 The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks.

White Lion.
(Use small bar glass.)
1½ teaspoon of pulverized white sugar.
½ a lime (squeeze out juice and put rind in glass).
1 wine-glass Santa Cruz rum.
½ teaspoon of Curaçao
½ do. Raspberry syrup.
Jerry Thomas, The Bar-tender's Guide, and Bon-vivant's Companion - A Complete Cyclopedia of Plain And Fancy Drinks (1st edition), 1862

More cocktails by Jerry "The Professor" Thomas

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More Frozen (blended) cocktails
More Fruity (e.g. Pornstar Martini) cocktails
More Summer cocktails

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.