Name: Honeymoon
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 30 ml Calvados apple brandy; 30 ml Bénédictine D.O.M.; 15 ml Lemon juice; 5 ml Orange Curaçao

Honeymoon
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Glass:

Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
1 oz	Calvados / apple brandy / straight applejack
1 oz	Bénédictine D.O.M. liqueur
¹⁄₂ oz	Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₆ oz	Orange Curaçao liqueur

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Prepare:

Select and pre-chill a COUPE GLASS.
Prepare garnish of orange zest twist.

How to make:

SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish:

EXPRESS orange zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

This equal parts apple brandy and Bénédictine recipe broadly follows Ensslin's 1916 (the first published) recipe and is not only faithful to the original but the best I've tried.

Most contemporary recipes call for:
60ml (2oz) apple brandy
15ml (½oz) Bénédictine
15ml (½oz) Orange curaçao
15ml (½oz) Lemon juice

My own previous recipe called for:
45ml (1½oz) apple brandy
22.5ml (¾oz) Bénédictine
7.5ml (¼oz) Orange curaçao
15ml (½oz) lemon juice
15ml (½oz) egg white

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AKA: Farmer's Daughter

History:

This pre-Prohibition cocktail was first published in Hugo R. Ensslin's 1916 Recipes for Mixed Drinks (1st Edition) and was popularised during the 1920s at the Brown Derby restaurant in Los Angeles, USA.

"HONEY MOON COCKTAIL
½ Benedictine
½ Apple Brandy
Juice of ½ lemon
3 dashes Curacao
Shake well in a mixing glass with cracked ice, strain and serve."
Hugo R. Ensslin, Recipes for Mixed Drinks, 1916

"HONEY-MOON COCKTAIL
The Juice of ½ Lemon.*
3 Dashes Curaçao.
½ Bénédictine.
½ Apple Brandy.
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.
* Some sensitive bartenders think it more tactful to substitute orange juice."
Harry Craddock, The Savoy Cocktail Book, 1930

"The Honeymoon combines curaçao and Benedictine. Benedictine, being an aromatic liqueur, blends particularly well with whisky and apple brandy.
HONEYMOON
1 part Curaçao & Benedictine, half & half
2 parts Lime Juice
8 parts Applejack
Shake well with cracked ice. This drink is also sometimes called the Farmer's Daughter."
David A. Embury, The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, 1948

Nutrition:

One serving of Honeymoon contains 189 calories

Alcohol content:

1.4 standard drinks
23.9% alc./vol. (47.79° proof)
19.1 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 10 of 17 comments for Honeymoon.
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Tuber Magnatum

8th January at 00:18

Really enjoyable drink. I followed Calvin Grant's suggestion of increasing the Curaçao to 7.5ml. For me it is needed to counterbalance the lemon which I think next time I will decrease a bit. But then this may be another case of not all lemons are created equal! (I'm Surprised some cocktail loving genetic engineer hasn't developed a GMO lemon which has a consistent pH and Brix level not that I would buy it.)

Peter McCarthy

2nd December 2025 at 23:20

The recipe calls for an orange zest twist, but I think that might be a mistake? It looks like there's a lemon zest twist in the photo, and I think that makes sense given the lemon juice?

Peter McCarthy

2nd December 2025 at 23:29

Aside from that, this was very tasty with Avallen Calvados and Ferrand Dry Curacao. I expected the Calvados to get a little lost in the mix, but it was fairly pronounced, with the other ingredients still noticeably contributing to the whole ensemble. The word "fresh" came to mind while drinking it.

Calvin Grant

6th August 2025 at 04:59

Did try this with Laird's bottled in bond and increased the Dry Curaçao to 7.5ml. Excelent, dryish, pleasantly orangy. Will try again with 5ml.

Tuber Magnatum

8th January at 00:10

I love Dry Curaçao so followed your lead an increased to 7.5 ml. Good call; it is needed to counterbalance the lemon.

1 reply

Romina

10th May 2025 at 23:34

interesting profile, and balanced.

Bert Schouterden

1st March 2025 at 19:09

Tried this one (twice!) with different Calvados and Blue Curacao as I ran out of Orange. Besides the fact that the final color now looks as if this drink was made in Tchernobyl, this really IS a revelation.

Choice of Calvados however made a huge difference. I tried one with a Boulard Calvados VSOP, which makes for a more full bodied but less 'sweet apple'-taste, whereas a 'simple' 2 yr casked Calvados gave this cocktail a lighter, fresher taste.
Both were however very pleasant!

JediBartender

31st October 2024 at 17:26

Would it be ok to use Triple Sec (like Cointreau) instead of curaçao?

Simon Difford

1st November 2024 at 11:00

Yes, but beware difference in flavour.

1 reply

Will Ford

9th May 2024 at 00:00

Nice sour, quite a lot of Benedictine but I love the stuff so this is a win for me. Orange rind or bitters is a must if you have either.

Mark

6th May 2024 at 11:32

Had to adjust the sour balance according to the liking of the drinker but it still turned out absolutely delicious: delicious apple with herbal notes and orange undertone. What a pleasant surprise of a drink.

Chris Haley

24th October 2023 at 00:02

What makes the end of a long hard day worthwhile? Discovering a heretofore unknown classic cocktail and learning all about it at Difford's website! Thanks for this instant favorite.

Stephen Curtin

15th August 2023 at 21:58

Made one with an Irish apple brandy rather than Calvados, and Clement Creole Shrubb instead of Curaçao, but close enough. Really tasty.

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