Name: Chrysanthemum
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 50 ml Dry vermouth; 15 ml Bénédictine D.O.M.; 4 dash Absinthe

Chrysanthemum
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Serve in a Nick & Nora glass

Ingredients:
1 ²⁄₃ oz	Strucchi Dry Vermouth chilled
¹⁄₂ oz	Bénédictine D.O.M. liqueur
4 dash	La Fée Parisienne absinthe

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Nick & Nora glass.
Prepare garnish of orange zest twist.
STIR all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
EXPRESS orange zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Dry vermouth - Sulphur Dioxide/Sulphites

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Cocktail of the day:

9th September 2025 is Chrysanthemum Day

Review:

Herbal and aromatic, this benefits from the dilution that comes with a good long stir.

View readers' comments

Variant:

Chrysanthemum No. 2 by Jamie Boudreau, Canon bar, Seattle, USA.
STIR all ingredients with ice and fine strain into a chilled and absinthe-rinsed coupe glass.
75ml (2½oz) Dry vermouth
15ml (½oz) Bénédictine
7.5ml (¼oz) Lemon juice

Other variations:
Caprice
Ford Cocktail
Merry Widow(er)
Minnie the Moocher
Poet's Dream
Poet's Martini
Queen Elizabeth
Queen Elizabeth Wine
Rolls Royce
Tip Top
Vancouver

History:

The Chrysanthemum appears in Hugo R. Ensslin's 1917 Recipes for Mixed Drinks (and may well have been in his 1916 First Edition).

CHRYSANTHEMUM COCKTAIL
3 dashes Absinthe
½ Benedictine
½ French Vermouth
Stir well in a mixing glass with cracked ice, strain and serve with a twist
of Orange Peel.
Hugo R. Ensslin, 1917

It then reappears in Harry Craddock's influential 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book where Craddock says, "Well-known and very popular in the American Bar of the S.S. Europa.".

CHRYSANTHEMUM COCKTAIL.*
3 Dashes Absinthe.
1/3 Bénédictine.
2/3 French Vermouth.
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. Squeeze orange peel on top.
*Well-known and very popular in the American Bar of the S.S. " Europa. "
Harry Craddock, 1930

This cocktail may be named after The Chrysanthemum, a 1904 piece by the famous ragtime composer and pianist Scott Joplin and released on record in 1916.

More cocktails by Harry Craddock

Nutrition:

One serving of Chrysanthemum contains 112 calories

Alcohol content:

0.9 standard drinks
18.84% alc./vol. (18.84° proof)
12.5 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 10 of 13 comments for Chrysanthemum.
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Leo

9th May at 06:05

Absolute banger it tastes just like chrysanthemum tea and it’s a good sip

Caspian Berggren

26th January at 14:20

A delightful cocktail. Anders Erickson regal stirred it with an orange peel and that was the cherry on top. The name is great because it really feels delicate like a flower.

tom munger

24th January at 22:27

Terrific! Both the cocktail and the Joplin!

Calvin Grant

9th September 2024 at 03:23

Felt like a bee sipping nectar from a flower! Awesome! Dolin Dry, Grande Absente.

Martin Schwartz

30th July 2024 at 15:06

Tried both the Boudreau and 1930 Craddock recipes. Both are good, but I think the lemon juice in the Boudreau recipe detracts a bit from herbal, aromatic nature of the drink which I enjoy. The Boudreau version is a little more refreshing on the palate. The version I’ll make in the future will have to be a preprandial decision.

Calvin Grant

9th September 2024 at 03:51

Great call on the comparison. I do like sour but went with the original first and glad I did. Thanks. It was sublime.

Calvin Grant

9th September 2024 at 03:34

Always fun to learn a new word. Two books once lost and now sorely missed; Greek and Latin prefixes and suffixes, and one on bioscientific terminology. Cheers.

1 reply

Neil Wilkins

14th April 2024 at 19:33

I like this very much, especially with heavy dashes of absinthe.

Susie Bright

12th April 2024 at 03:09

Sublime, especially with ragtime accompaniment.

Leo O'Campo

1st May 2023 at 04:20

The Chrysanthemum #2 includes lemon juice to brighten and freshen the cocktail. I recommend that. I also recommend increasing the Benedictine by 2-3x.

Simon Difford

1st May 2023 at 07:58

Jamie's Chrysanthemum #2 recipe is under "Variant" above.

Jennifer Spencer

2nd October 2022 at 16:03

I didn’t like this when I made it from this recipe, but then followed a ratio from another cocktail guide (2 1/2 shots Dolin Dry, 1/2 shot Benedictine, teaspoon absinthe) & am enjoying it very much.