Name: Night Cap (Sloppy Joe's 1935)
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 22.5 ml Cognac (brandy); 22.5 ml Gin; 22.5 ml White crème de cacao; 22.5 ml Lime juice; 5 ml Sugar syrup 'rich' (2:1); 3 drop Saline solution 4:1

Ingredients

³⁄₄ fl oz

Cognac (brandy)

³⁄₄ fl oz

Hayman's London Dry Gin

³⁄₄ fl oz

Giffard White Crème de Cacao Liqueur

³⁄₄ fl oz

Lime juice (freshly squeezed)

¹⁄₆ fl oz

Sugar syrup 'rich' (2 sugar to 1 water) 65.0°Brix

3 drop

Saline solution (20g sea salt to 80g water) or merest pinch of s (optional)

How to make

Glass

Prepare

Select and pre-chill a COUPE GLASS.

Prepare garnish of coin-sized orange zest twist..

Method

SHAKE all ingredients with ice.

FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish

EXPRESS orange zest twist over cocktail and float as garnish.

Flavour Profile

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

Health & Nutrition

Nutrition:

One serving of Night Cap (Sloppy Joe's 1935) contains 182 calories

Alcohol content:

1.3 standard drinks
18.48% alc./vol. (36.97° proof)
18.9 grams of pure alcohol

Review

This sweet 'n' sour, gin and cognac-laced cocktail is perhaps more suited to be enjoyed as an aperitivo, or even with breakfast, than the nightcap the name suggests. Unless you have a very sweet white cacao then the recipe needs the bar spoon of sugar syrup I've added for balance.

AKA: Chocolate Word

Comments & Discussion

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trendomexico Premium Member 6w

So, not because I want to be controversial, but if I put in the 'seeker' -word' this appear. If we consider 3 ingredients (gin, luxardo, chartreuse) and there are a lot of variations of the last word, were you just change ONE of the elements. Here we have two.
I do wonder if it can be in the list of the XXth century variations, or I I have to consider like a LW. So this is one of my wild cards, maybe it can be, maybe not. Could you please give some light Dear Simon? tx in advance. Now I have other two...

Simon Difford Verified User Premium Member 6w

A search for “word” lists this cocktail due to Steve Anderson’s comment below, suggesting it should be renamed Chocolate Word.

Bocman 47w

This cocktail is enjoyable, but the sweet/dry-sour metric is probably not the best way to describe it 😅
I’ll maybe remove the sugar syrup since it’s already sweet enough 🍭

Dávid Ugróczi 2y

Strongly sweet, strongly sour with a hint of chocolate. Not bad.

Chris Dimal 3y

Bracingly tart. So tart, I doubt it's a nightcap! It's really intense. The gin and brandy are mostly lost, only the Creme de Cacao has any influence.

Simon Difford Verified User Premium Member 3y

Agreed, Chris. I've added sugar and saline to rebalance and amended the comment re occasion.

Amy Chard 3y

The instructions say to garnish with a lime twist zest coin, but the photo shows an orange zest coin. Could you confirm which is right? Thank you in advance!

Simon Difford Verified User Premium Member 3y

Both zest work and benefit this cocktail but of the two I prefer orange so I've amended accordingly. (Lime dries this cocktail already finely balanced cocktail.)

Steve Anderson 5y

I wanted to make a Last Word but I was out of Green Chartreuse. My taste buds were set! What to do? Fortunately, I remembered making this, and that it didn't taste like a late night drink but more of a summer sipper. My wife agrees! I know this cocktail has historic roots, but I would vote for a new name. A Chocolate Word??

Simon Difford Verified User Premium Member 5y

Agreed! I've added Chocolate Word as an AKA above and also added to our search terms, so now if you search for a Chocolate Word you should see this Night Cap recipe listed.

trendomexico Premium Member 7w

Oh! So, should I try to consider this in my travel to taste all the all Last Words? I feel it a little far... but I can complain, :D

John Hinojos Premium Member 5y

Boozy and wonderful for sipping. I also did it on the rocks as it is a little sweet for me.

Nigel Hitchman 5y

Delicious. So good that I had to revisit a week later. Boozy and tangy, but with a long sweet white chocolate aftertaste. I preferred sipping it on the rocks though.