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Sabot

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (292)
Measurements in:
Serves:
1
Ingredients
1 1/2 fl oz Hayman's London Dry Gin
3/4 fl oz Cointreau L'Unique triple sec liqueur
3/4 fl oz Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
1/3 fl oz Sugar syrup 'rich' (2 sugar to 1 water) 65.0°Brix
1/2 fl oz Egg white (pasteurised) or Fee Brothers Fee Foam cocktail foamer
3/4 fl oz Brut champagne/sparkling wine

How to make

Glass

Photographed in an UB Retro Coupe 1910

Prepare

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

Method

  1. SHAKE first 5 ingredients with ice and strain back into shaker.
  2. DRY SHAKE (without ice) to emulsify.
  3. FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
  4. TOP with sparkling wine.

Garnish

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

Flavour Profile

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 8/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 7/10

Health & Nutrition

Nutrition:

One serving of Sabot contains 209 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.7 standard drinks
  • 16.17% alc./vol. (32.34° proof)
  • 23.9 grams of pure alcohol

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

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History

I'm thankful to Rollo Duckworth for introducing me to this champagne-charged cocktail, which, as he says, "has a cavalry flavour to it."

In the 1980s, Rollo served in the Royal Hussars in Germany when the regiment had Chieftain tanks. As he explains, "our fastest and very destructive tank round (bullet) was called a sabot. How a White Lady morphed into this is not known, though bizarrely I think my father was involved. It just made sense to share the name of our most powerful round with this cocktail."

Review

The Sabot is a White Lady topped with a splash of fizz. Once you've experienced the firepower of a Sabot you'll never want to settle for a mere White Lady again.

AKA: Champagne White Lady

Cocktail of the day:

24th December 2026 is Christmas Eve

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Gallery

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Comments & Discussion

James Hanks Premium Member
It's like a protein maxxing French 75. Love it! ❤️
score: 0
Wayne Dorothy
I have been a longtime fan of the White Lady. I had never tried a Sabot until just now, as I didn’t think the addition of champagne would make much of a difference. I was wrong! My first shot at the Sabot was so very good! Thanks!
score: 1
John Hinojos Premium Member
As this was listed as a Christmas Eve cocktail, we decided to use Empress Gin from Canada which is coloured by pea flowers which turns from purple to pink in lemon juice. The resulting cocktail had a rose purple hue which was perfect for the season.
score: 2
Juniper Lately
Had some leftover champagne (weird) and made it into a simple syrup. Used it in the sabot when I didn’t have any sparkling anything. I guess not technically a sabot but DELICIOUS.
score: 3
Niccolò Murtas
How did you make it into a syrup? just adding sugar in it and...?
score: 2
Juniper Lately
Yep - equal parts champagne (or whatever sparkling leftover) and sugar, gently heated until the sugar dissolves. It has a delicate champagney flavour. I use it as a simple 1:1 syrup. (I suppose it could also be made in Diffords prefered 2:1 ratio - not sure if the flavour would stand up to that much sugar?)
score: 6
Lynn Garvie
I really wasn't expecting anything spectacular from this cocktail, so I was blown away by how good it was. Smooth, simple and spectacular! (Sabot)
score: 2
Ken Flores
The egg white doesn't add much to the drink and actually serves to give it an off flavor. I love egg white, not in this cocktail. Tastes like an overcomplex white lady with a meh mouthfeel.
score: 1
John Hinojos Premium Member
This is outstanding. Used a Taittinger Late Disgorge and a local San Diego dry gin. Slightly sweet, but you can still taste the different ingredients. Was perfect for a pre-Easter Dinner cocktail.
score: 2
Jan Martinek
So I came back to this, as I tend to.
And I'm wondering whether a blue lady could benefit from Champagne/sparkling wine as well
score: 4
Ian Fenton
It’s 43 weeks ago now; please share the results of your testing!
score: 7
Joseph Murray
Finding ourselves on New Year’s Eve without Brut Champagne, we were wondering if, in general, substituting our on-hand Extra Dry Prosecco and reducing the sugar would work in this and other Champagne and sugar cocktails? We’ll give it a try…
score: 1

Showing the first 9 of 15 comments.