East India No.2

Difford's Guide
Discerning Drinkers (77 ratings)
Ingredients:
1 2/3 fl oz Rémy Martin V.S.O.P. cognac
1/3 fl oz Orange Curaçao liqueur
1/3 fl oz Pineapple juice
1/6 fl oz Monin Pineapple Syrup
2 dash Angostura Aromatic Bitters
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How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill a Nick & Nora glass.
  2. Prepare garnish of pineapple wedge.
  3. SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
  4. FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
  5. Garnish with pineapple wedge on rim.
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Strength & taste guide:


Review:

The bitters are crucial in balancing this after-dinner brandy and pineapple cocktail.

Variant:

East India House

History:

An East India (No. 2) classically has pineapple syrup or pineapple juice, while an East India No. 1 instead calls for raspberry syrup. Pineapple syrup is first recorded in an East India in Robert Vermeire's 1922 Cocktails: How to Mix Them and is repeated in Frank Meier's 1936 The-Artistry of Mixing Drinks and it's Meier, who worked at Ritz Bar, Paris from 1921 to 1947, who is said to have introduced pineapple to this cocktail.

In his 1923 Harry of Ciros ABC-of-mixing-cocktails, Harry MacElhone also uses pineapple syrup in his East India, which, like the above, is otherwise pretty much the same as Harry Johnson's 1882 East India No. 1 - indeed, MacElhone credits the recipe to Johnson.

Harry Craddock's influential 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book stipulates pineapple juice in place of pineapple syrup, and this is repeated in other cocktail books which follow, including William James "Billy" Tarling's 1937 Café Royal Cocktail Book. I've honoured all the above by using both pineapple juice and syrup in my version of an East India.

Nutrition:

165 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.3 standard drinks
  • 23.61% alc./vol. (47.22° proof)
  • 17.9 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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Bacardi's birthday image

Bacardi's birthday

The founder of Bacardi was a Catalan wine merchant called Facundo Bacardi Massó, who left Spain for Cuba in 1830.

Valentine's Day image

Valentine's Day

You can't have failed to notice that 14 February is St. Valentine's Day, a time of year when a sum equivalent to the GDP of a small country is spent on

Fernand Petiot's birthday image

Fernand Petiot's birthday

On this day in 1900, Fernand Pete Petiot was born in Paris, to parents who owned a guesthouse - he would come to fame, correctly or otherwise, as the inventor

Margarita Day image

Margarita Day

There are days for most things in the US, but Margarita Day is a subject very close to our hearts. Because, no matter who invented this classic cocktail,

World Bartender Day image

World Bartender Day

We're celebrating what the Oxford English dictionary defines as a person serving drinks at a bar, but we know as creative, hard-working folk who satisfy

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