Name: Monkey Gland
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 60 ml Gin; 20 ml Orange juice; 5 ml Grenadine syrup; 2.5 ml Sugar syrup (2:1); 3 dash Absinthe

Monkey Gland
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Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
2 oz	Hayman's London Dry Gin
²⁄₃ oz	Orange juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₆ oz	Monin Grenadine Syrup
0.08 oz	Monin Pure Cane Syrup (65.0°brix, equivalent to 2:1 rich syrup)
3 dash	La Fée Parisienne absinthe omit for Cocktails Made Easy

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
Prepare garnish of orange zest twist.
SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
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

Cocktail of the day:

8th February 2025 is MacElhone bought Europe's oldest cocktail bar this day

Review:

I've added the merest touch of sugar to the classic recipe and a dash more absinthe to make this old-school cocktail pop. However, approach with caution, unlike the experiments of Serge Voronoff, nothing about this drink is designed to enhance virility.

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History:

Created in the late 1920s by Harry MacElhone at his Harry's New York Bar in Paris, France. The Monkey Gland takes its name from the work of Dr Serge Voronoff who, convinced that testosterone was vital to a long and healthy life, transplanted monkey testicles onto elderly Frenchmen.

The "Monkey's Gland Cocktail" first appears in MacElhone's 1922 Harry's ABC of Mixing Cocktails (which, sadly, I don't have access to). In his 1923 edition, he specifies the recipe as "1 dash Absinthe, 1 teaspoonful of Grenadine, ½ Orange Juice, ½ Gordon Gin. Shake well, and strain into a cocktail glass. (Invented by the Author and deriving its name from Voronoff's experiments in rejuvenation.)."

More cocktails by Harry MacElhone

Nutrition:

One serving of Monkey Gland contains 169 calories

Alcohol content:

1.3 standard drinks
21.09% alc./vol. (21.09° proof)
18.6 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 comments for Monkey Gland.
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Max Langer

1st November 2024 at 22:08

Acid adjusted orange juice really breathless new life into all the classic orange based cocktails. Very convincing!

Susie Bright

7th April 2024 at 22:14

I am very proud of making this drink a “thing” at Louie’s bar in Santa Cruz, which at the moment is Gilda’s. He and his wife fell in love with it and everyone who tried it fell in love. We’re so lucky to live here, where oranges have 3 seasons!

Avery Garnett

28th March 2024 at 18:11

It's very dry, it's quite absinthe forward. It doesn't have that muddy flavour that many orange juice cocktails have but it doesn't pop sadly. Just quite a dry absinthe orange thing.

ian roberts

1st March 2024 at 18:36

I left the sugar syrup out a used a little more absinthe really tasty

Maho Lomez

5th December 2023 at 23:58

I usually like my drinks on the dry side, but for this one I think a sweeter formulation would work better. Will have to experiment.

Louise Allen

7th April 2023 at 18:36

Dashes are so annoyingly imprecise so, using my Diffords patented jigger, I added 1.25ml of absinthe and that worked out just lovely. I used Engine Oil gin which is my current favourite.

Chris Brislawn

8th February 2023 at 05:52

Didn't have Rutte so used Hulme's London Dry Gin (Albuquerque's finest), which has a strong botanical nose. (Good luck finding it across the pond.) Grenadine is boring and no pomegranate syrup so used pomegranate molasses, which is probably heavier and more complex (and darker) than the syrup, as well as a bit acidic. Very good! Better than Death & Co.'s tequila-based variant, "Glandula Del Mono."

Miguel Perales

7th February 2023 at 22:58

I made this two ways. The first one as posted with the rich syrup and the second one without it. I will have to say I prefer the one without the syrup, but the one with is not bad (just a personal preference). The orange juice is very prevalent on the nose but the Gin ( I used The Botanist gin for it's floral notes) and Absinthe are definitely present on the palate. Quite nice

j dawsari

16th May 2022 at 00:57

So, would 3 dashes be just under 3 mls?

Simon Difford

16th May 2022 at 15:04

3 dashes is just under 1 ml (0.94ml).

John Hinojos

9th February 2022 at 01:15

With the combination of the gin and the absinthe there are strong vegetal and herbal flavours which is tempered by the orange and syrups. Very nice. Good for an afternoon cocktail.

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