Bending Blades cocktail

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (20 ratings)

Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
1 12 oz Patrón Silver blanco tequila
12 oz Lustau Manzanilla Papirusa Sherry
14 oz Gentian liqueur (e.g. Suze, Salers etc)
34 oz Giffard Pamplemousse liqueur
13 oz Chilled water omit if using wet ice
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

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

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 6/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 7/10

Review:

Tequila-based, zesty and bitter before turning bittersweet. In March 2022, I cut the volume of gentian liqueur from 15ml (½oz) back to 7.5ml (¼oz) so fans of bitter gentian my want to stick with the original spec.

View readers' comments

History:

Adapted from a recipe created in 2015 by Christopher Day at General Lee's in Los Angeles, USA.

Nutrition:

One serving of Bending Blades cocktail contains 179 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.4 standard drinks
  • 19.96% alc./vol. (19.96° proof)
  • 20 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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John Morris’ Avatar John Morris
4th April at 07:05
Made this with mijenta tequila and my last dribble of suze saveur d’autrefois. Added a bit of grapefruit and chamomile bitters and a couple of drops of saline. Couldn’t be happier. Bitter and sweet and surprisingly full mouthfeel - presumably from the grapefruit liqueur. Banging.
Frederic D.’s Avatar Frederic D.
22nd March 2024 at 01:12
I absolutely loved this drink. Made with Olmeca Altos Plata and Fino sherry, because I don't use enough sherry to justify keeping two bottles open concurrently. This was a great drink regardless, with a distinct evolution from bitter grapefruit to herbal tequila to sherry salinity. It's complex and well balanced and overall delightful.
Steve Erwood-Heijselaar’s Avatar Steve Erwood-Heijselaar
20th March 2022 at 16:23
Interesting comment about cutting back the Suze, Simon. The first time I tried this cocktail, I was unfamiliar with gentian and found it quite a challenging taste. Here I am, another spring, another Bending Blades... and now I can't imagine it without that Suzean slap. So I'm definitely sticking to the original 15ml, but I hope others will try it either way and add another favourite cocktail to their cabinets!