Honeymoon

Difford's Guide
Discerning Drinkers (90 ratings)

Serve in

Coupe glass
Ingredients:
1 fl oz Calvados / apple brandy / straight applejack
1 fl oz Bénédictine D.O.M. liqueur
1/2 fl oz Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
1/6 fl oz Orange Curaçao liqueur
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How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
  2. Prepare garnish of orange zest twist.
  3. SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
  4. FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
  5. EXPRESS orange zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

AKA:

Farmer's Daughter

Strength & taste guide:


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

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:

189 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.4 standard drinks
  • 23.9% alc./vol. (47.8° 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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