Name: Green Isaac's Special
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 45 ml Gin; 90 ml Coconut water; 5 ml Lime juice; 2 dash Aromatic bitters

Green Isaac's Special
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Photographed in a Rondo Highball Glass 37cl

Ingredients:
1 ¹⁄₂ oz	Hayman's London Dry Gin
3 oz	Coconut water
¹⁄₆ oz	Lime juice (freshly squeezed)
2 dash	Angostura Aromatic Bitters

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Collins glass.
Prepare garnish of lime wedge.
SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
STRAIN into ice-filled glass.
Garnish with lime wedge.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

Ernest Hemingway was a hardened drinker who also suffered from haemochromatosis (a rare hereditary disease that can lead to diabetes) so avoided sugar. With this in mind, I've subtly softened and mellowed his creation. It's still on the dry side and plenty strong enough, but hopefully better balanced.

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History:

Named after the small Bahamian island of Great Isaac Cay, the Green Isaac's Special appears in Ernest Hemingway's autobiographical novel Islands in the Stream where the great author wrote, "Thomas Hudson tasted, took a swallow and felt the cold that had the sharpness of the lime, the aromatic varnishy taste of the Angostura and the gin stiffening the lightness of the ice-cold coconut water."

More cocktails by Ernest Hemingway

Nutrition:

One serving of Green Isaac's Special contains 115 calories

Alcohol content:

1 standard drinks
9.84% alc./vol. (9.84° proof)
13.8 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 Green Isaac's Special.
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Shay Dabush

29th September 2024 at 19:48

I really wanted this one to work as I'm a fan of coconut water cocktails, but unfortunately, I really can't say I liked it. It's missing sweetness and complexity that even the Angostura bitters couldn't compensate for. I added ~5ml of 2:1 simple syrup and it made OK'ish..

Peter Hodge

16th May 2023 at 16:39

Initially I did think it lacked a certain sweetness but after a few sips I found I enjoyed it as it was. I may have been a little enthusiastic with the bitters but then again I like the flavour of Angostura so didn’t mind!

Richard Elgar

14th September 2021 at 00:30

That picture looks absolutely nothing like the drink!

Shay Dabush

29th September 2024 at 19:45

That's weird. I got the same color as the picture.

1 reply

Richard Elgar

20th September 2021 at 18:14

Hmm. Yes, the amount of lime juice in your recipe is one that I didn't really consider. I went for the juice of one lime, so between 15 and 20ml. Maybe that's the difference! I saw a lot of variation with lime juice in different recipes, and I don't believe it's specified in the book. But it feels that it would be the juice of either a half or a whole lime!

Benjamin Hietanen

25th July 2021 at 23:56

Added a few ounces of club soda into this and really enjoyed it!

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